I have assisted quite a few chefs over the past decade and here and there, I picked up a few tricks. One of these tricks is how to make picture (and taste) perfect cooked baby carrots. I am not referring to the little baby carrot nubs that people snack on. I am referring to actual baby carrots, that are pulled whole, right out of the ground. Have you had these beautiful tasty baby carrots as a side at restaurant before? These are cooked ahead of time and then reheated, to order.
You can do this for a holiday meal, like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Blanch these two days ahead of time and then quickly reheat to serve at the meal.
Here is how they do it:
BLANCHED BABY VEGETABLES
You can purchase baby vegetables from your local store
(Whole Foods or Trader Joes has pre-packed and washed…for convenience). Carrots, zucchini and string beans work really well.
SERVES TWO (150 calories per serving)
16 oz raw baby vegetables such as carrots, zucchini, or string beans
1 ½ T Ghee, for sautéing after blanching
INSTRUCTIONS
Boil water in medium size pan. Remove vegetables from their bags (do not slice vegetables) and boil one type of vegetable at a time for about 1-2 minutes (zucchini may take 3 depending on thickness). Remove vegetables with a slotted spoon, drain and plunge vegetables into an ice water bath to halt cooking.
After about a minute, remove vegetables from the ice bath and place on a paper towel, blot dry.
Wrap each bags worth of vegetables separately in a dry paper towel and place in refrigerator. These will keep 4-5 days in the refrigerator. To reheat, simply place in a skillet, heated to medium heat (this will take 3-4 minutes) with 1 T extra virgin coconut oil, ghee or butter. You can toss them with oil and vinegar, fresh herbs, etc.