Crispy Parmesan Herb Carrot Fries

So, you ordered a starter kit from pickedseeds.com and have a handful of herb plants thriving in your garden. Now what the heck do you do with them?

Start by plucking a few leaves of parsley, sage, thyme, and oregano, chop 'em up, and sprinkle them over

...everything. 

A great place to start is roasted potatoes. Classic. Can't really screw those up, and pretty agreeable to every palate. 

But aren't you ready to step it up?

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Crispy Parmesan Herb Carrot Fries

by Twirlerica

Time: 50 minutes

Serves 2

Ingredients

6-8 large carrots

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp granulated garlic

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano

2 sage leaves

3 parsley leaves

1 sprig thyme

4 oregano leaves

fleur de sel

Preheat oven to 375˚. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, peel carrots and cut into 1/4"-1/2" wide strips, 3-4" long. 

Drop carrots in boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a large bowl halfway with ice water. Strain carrots and drop into ice water until cooled. Lay out on a clean cotton dish towel and dry. 

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Toss carrots in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and Parmigiano Reggiano, then lay out in a single layer on the prepared pan. 

Bake for 20 minutes. Flip, and cook for 10 more minutes. Combine and chop herbs. Turn off oven, sprinkle on chopped herbs, and let the carrots sit inside the turned off oven for 10-15 minutes to continue drying out. Top with fleur de sel before serving. 

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The Details

Need a little more info? Let's break it down into detail.

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What is it that makes these so freaking good?

You can put the exact same seasonings and toppings on potatoes, and they're excellent, but there's something about these carrots that's so... intriguing. I could eat them forever. Every single day. The carrots' natural sweetness sets off every other flavor: the sweetness coupled with the tang of the Parmigiano Reggiano that gets all toasty in the oven, the crunchy fleur de sel finishing salt, and the herbs added during the last bit of cooking to keep them flavorful and fresh combine to make a perfectly balanced side dish.

Oh, and all those extra cooking steps? They make a huge difference.

Boiling them for a few minutes before baking cooks the carrots through, so the time in the oven is spent drying them out and getting those nice caramelized crispy bits. Zapping them in the ice water stops the cooking process so they don't turn out mushy (this boiling and cooling process is called blanching, and it's ideal for cooking starchy root vegetables).

Then at the end, why keep them in the oven if the oven isn't on?

As the oven cools off after cooking, the decreasing temperature is ideal for dehydration. Letting the carrots sit inside for 10-15 minutes pulls out that last bit of water that may be keeping them from getting as crispy as they could be. Also, adding the herbs for this dehydration step lets those flavors bloom and blend with the carrots without burning.

What the heck is fleur de sel? Can't I just use salt?

Fleur de sel is fancy, expensive french sea salt that's worth every penny. Yeah, you can use regular old sea salt or kosher salt, but you won't get that crusty crunch and the added flavor that fleur de sel brings. There's something about it that just tastes better than other salt.

Serve these carrot fries alongside burgers slathered in truffle aioli, fancy mustard, and homemade pickles on my favorite buttermilk buns. Treat yourself. You deserve it.