Pan-Roasted Carrots with Crispy Sage

Pan-Roasted Carrots with Crispy Sage

There are three reasons why I love this recipe:

  1. These days, I love anything with crispy sage.
  2. It requires approximately six minutes of actual attention. Perfect for the harried parent—the carrots roasted away while we put Harry to bed, with only occasional shakes of the pan.
  3. If I hadn’t told you about point #2, you’d never know. This is elegant enough, and impressive enough, to serve to company.

So. Go. Make these. Enjoy their browned, nearly crunchy edges, their meltingly soft, lightly sweet centers, and—best of all—the delicate snippets of herb that shatter between your teeth and leave behind a bewitching, woodsy flavor.

Just don’t tell anyone how easy they are.

Pan-Roasted Carrots with Crispy Sage
Serves 2, but doubles easily

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
10 small or 5 large fresh sage leaves, slivered
4 large or 6 small carrots, cut on the diagonal into ½” slices
salt & pepper

In a large nonstick frying pan, heat oil and butter over a medium-high flame. When foaming subsides, sprinkle in slivered sage leaves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the color changes—shouldn’t take much more than a minute—then remove and drain on paper towel.

Add carrots to pan and lower heat to medium. Add salt and pepper to taste, stir to coat carrots with the sage-scented fat, then cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and browned around the edges. Add fried sage back to the pan, toss, and serve.