Roasted Rainbow Baby Carrots with Butter Beans, Cavolo Nero and Mint
An easy plant-based dish that packs a punch with its garlicky, zesty and herby flavours. The perfect side dish or starter for you to try this weekend!
I am a bit of a spontaneous cook: I am not a meal planner, I rarely follow recipes, and most of my dishes are improvised, based on what I have handy I in the fridge (or pantry) and what I feel like eating that day. I first made this dish a few days ago: I had a jar of good-quality, expensive butter beans lying around in the Pantry and wanted to make something that paid them justice: hence the butter beans two ways.
The key to a good dish, I think, is balancing flavours as well as textures: the creaminess of the butter bean puree is contrasted by the crispiness of the roasted carrots and beans. The tangyness of the lemon zest and juice cuts through the garlic. And a good dose of fresh herbs, in my opinion, always, always makes a dish better.
Hope you enjoy this simple recipe. Let me know what you think!
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 20mins, 180° celsius (fan)
Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
1 can of Large Butter Beans (I used Brindisa’s)
10 Rainbow Baby Carrots, halved
1 small bunch of mint, roughly chopped
3-4 stems of Cavolo Nero
1 tsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1 lemon
1 small garlic whole head
Salt & pepper
Olive oil
Method
Preheat the oven.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place the carrots, halved.
Drain the butter beans making sure you save some of the liquid. Add a third of the beans onto the baking tray together with the carrots. Place the remaining into a small food processor for later use.
Slice the whole garlic head horizontally and place the two halves on the tray, face down. Drizzle abundantly with olive oil, season to taste and sprinkle the seeds all over. Put the tray in the oven to cook for 15 mins.
Whilst the carrots are roasting, roughly tear the cavolo nero leaves into chunks, using your hands. Mix them into a bowl with a splash of olive oil, lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice. Once the carrots and beans are starting to get crispy, scatter the leaves on top of the roasting tray, and return to the oven for approx. another 5 minutes, making sure the leaves are crunchy but not burnt. Remove from the oven when ready.
Squeeze half of the garlic cloves out of their skin and into the food processor (the cloves should be completely soft by this point). Save the other half for another use (delicious on bread!). Add a splash of the beans’ water, the juice of half a lemon, and a dash of olive oil and blend together until smooth. Season to taste.
Start assembling the platter by spooning a layer of the bean puree. Pile the carrots, crispy beans and the zesty cavolo nero on top. Garnish with the chopped mint and finish with another light drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice.
Enjoy!