You're Just Going to Have to Trust Me on This One, Part 3: Carrots. And Chocolate. Really.

We’ve eaten a lot of very ordinary food lately. The school year has been kicking our collective butts and we’ve gone back to many of our usual weeknight favorites, even though I’m continuing to moon over my recipe file and daydream about the amazing dinners I would cook if only I had more time (Really? Who am I kidding? I have the day off work and I just ate EasyMac for lunch). But then a recipe like this pops up and reminds me that fabulous doesn’t have to mean a lot of work, even if that’s how it usually works out around here.

I first discovered Mindo Chocolate Makers at a tasting event at Michigan by the Bottle, and Cortney posted this recipe on the MbtB website at some point. We’d been buying a lot of multi-colored carrots from Trader Joe’s that month and I had some fresh mint laying around from a batch of mojitos I never got around to making (isn’t that sad? August was clearly far too busy), so this was just the right combination to jazz up a weeknight grill dinner. Miel de Cacao is a really fantastic ingredient in all sorts of ways – it’s ended up whisked into salad dressings and drizzled over fruit, and it’s made more than one appearance in a couple of outstanding martini-ish things, and really it makes itself at home anywhere you put it.  

By all means, follow the link to the original blog post overat Earthy Delights, which is so much more beautiful and well-written and well-photographed than mine. The shortened cheater’s version is here.

Carrots! Chocolate! (Really!)

1 lb carrots (the multi-colored pack you get at Trader Joe’s or the organic food section at Western Market look really nifty in this)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp miel de cacoa (So. Amazing. Go buy some right now.) 

Handful of fresh mint leaves, sliced very thinly (chiffonade, if you’re feeling technical)  

Fire up your grill for whatever else you’re having for dinner. Scrub the carrots, trim off the tops if needed, and toss with a little olive oil and some salt and pepper.

When the grill is ready and/or the rest of dinner is about 20 minutes from being done, put the carrots on the grill (do I even need to point out that these should go crossways?) and cook. Turn them fairly often so they cook evenly; they’ll be a little bit brown and nicely tender when they’re done. (Grilled carrots are really excellent even without the miel de cacao and mint, btw.)

Arrange on a serving platter. Drizzle the miel de cacoa across the carrots and sprinkle with the mint. Tell your carrot-loving kids you’re serving them chocolate with their vegetables  and enjoy the mixed reactions. This would also be a very glamorous thing to serve guests with a mixed grill dinner.