Vichy Carrots

Rosh Hashana is one of my favourite Jewish holidays celebrating the Jewish New Year - a traditional anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve.  As most Jewish holidays are,  Rosh Hashana is a lot about the food of the holiday.  It is tradition to eat sweet and honey-flavoured dishes for the New Year.

Many of the dishes at our Rosh Hashana table include sweet potato casserole, brisket with a sweet marinade, a salad with pomegranate to symbolize being fruitful with its many seeds, apples dipped in honey to symbolize a sweet new year, round challah bread to symbolize the cycle of the new year, apple cake and honey cake for dessert and the list goes on.  You can see the theme here is sweet, sweet, sweet. 

I am always looking for new dishes to prepare for these large family celebrations to include on top of my many family recipes passed along from generation to generation. Last year Sam Sifton came to my aid and included a recipe for these Vichy carrots in the New York Times. They are absolutely delicious, quite simple to make and will be a staple from here on in at our Rosh Hashaana table.  Thanks Sam!

For the carrots

1 lb. carrots, peeled, stems cut to 1/2" remaining

Kosher salt

2 Tbsp sherry vinegar

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 medium shallot, finely diced

1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped

black pepper to taste

Place carrots in a sauté pan and season aggressively with salt.  Add a Tbsp of vinegar and cold water until it reaches halfway uo the sides of the carrots. Heat pan over high heat and bring the liquid to boil.

Reduce heat to medium and cook stirring occasionally until carrots are just cooked through, about 15 minutes. If the pan dries out during this process, as  a bit of water to the pan.

Once carrots are cooked drain the excess water and add remaining vinegar, honey, olive oil, shallot and thyme and cook for 2 minutes to glaze the carrots.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

This dish is equally good, hot from the pan, room temperature or cold from the refrigerator so feel free to prepare a day ahead to ease holiday cooking feasts.