February 7: Gingery Sauteed Carrots

This month's Fine Cooking magazine has sort of tipped the scale for me in terms of the steel-cage death match of cooking magazines. Between it and Cook's Illustrated, there's way more advertising in Fine Cooking--since Cook's Illustrated doesn't carry any. Fine Cooking has way more recipes, and I like their variations on a theme. They also tend to have great little sidebars about great cook- and bakeware, special ingredients, tips, and other useful, interesting tidbits, rather than Cook's Illustrated, some of which read a little like a ten-year-old with Asperger's Syndrome talking about science.

Nevertheless, these are still my two favorite cooking magazines by far, and the only two I'm still subscribing to. I am really looking forward to making something Asian again sometime soon, so that I can make these gingery sauteed carrots that are in Fine Cooking this month. They sound wonderful. I make this chipotle-maple cashew chicken with brown rice. I think this might be a yummy side dish with that, with the flavor of maple tying them together. This serves 4 generously.

Gingery Sauteed Carrots

1 tbsp. maple syrup
2 tsp lime juice
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb. carrots, trimmed, peeled, and cut into sticks about 4 inches long and 1/3 inch wide
kosher salt
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger

Combine the maple syrup, lime juice, and 1 tbsp. water in a small dish and set near the stove. In a 10-inch straight sided saute pan, heat 1 tbsp. of the butter with the olive oil over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted, add the carrots and season with 3/4 tsp. salt. Toss with tongs to coat well. Cook, gently tossing occasionally at first and then more frequently, until most of the carrots are well browned and tender when pierced with a fork, 6-9 minutes.

Reduce the heat to low, add the remaining 1 tbsp of butter and the ginger and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan with a heatproof spatula, until the butter has melted and the ginger is fragrant, 15-20 seconds. Carefully add the maple syrup mixture and cook, stirring, until the liquid reduces to a glazey consistency that coats the carrots, 15-20 seconds.

Immediately transfer the carrots to the serving dish, scraping the pan with the spatula to get all of the sauce. Let sit for a few minutes and then serve warm.