Roasted carrots with hot honey, sage, hazelnuts and Labneh

Christmas carrots on CRACK.
Seriously though, make these for the Christmas spread, or even with leftovers. They were very very tasty.

Recipe, serves 3-4 as a side;

THE CARROTS
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp hot honey (or 1 tbsp honey and 1 tsp
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt
Pepper
1 heaped tsp mix of dried sage, thyme and rosemary (or use 3 sprigs fresh thyme, 1 sprig rosemary and 5 sage leaves)
50ml hot water
4 carrots, sliced into 4 sticks

THE ‘LABNEH’
4 tbsp greek yogurt (full fat is best)
1 tsp roasted garlic puree, or 1 crushed garlic clove
Squeeze lemon juice
Pinch of salt

THE BUTTER TO TOP
2 sprigs fresh thyme
5 sage leaves
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp crushed roasted hazelnuts

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C

2. Heat the butter in a pan on medium-low heat, with your garlic cloves and dried herbs

3. Once simmering, add the hot honey and leave to bubble, then stir. Turn off the heat and leave to sit for a couple of minutes.

4. Cut the tops off the carrots, wash them and slice into 4 sticks (lengthways)

5. Place onto a baking tray

6. Add 50ml hot water to the pan with the butter mixture in and stir well

7. Pour the butter x hot honey mix over the carrots, with the garlic cloves still in, and cover the tray with foil

8. Bake for 1 hour, then turn the oven up to 200°C, and bake for another 20 mins, turning the carrots over halfway

9. Take out and leave to rest for 10 mins

10. Mix all the labneh ingredients together and add a splash of water to loosen. Spread over the bottom of your plate.

11. Melt the butter for the top in a pan, add the herbs and hazelnuts and simmer until the sage leaves appear transparent

12. Plate the carrots in a pile ontop of the labneh. Pour over the butter and finish with Maldon salt and pepper

Notes + Variations:

You can actually buy pre-bought hot honey now, so you could use that too.