Recipe: Roasted Carrots with Orange

Winter produce can start to feel tired almost as soon as winter fully sets in. But roasted vegetable boredom usually leads me to experimentation and, if I’m lucky, occasional breakthroughs, like these roasted carrots with orange.

Storage carrots — dense and super orange compared to their younger counterparts with leaves still attached — are an affordable winter staple. The sweetness of carrots in a savory recipe can be challenging, so I tossed my carrots with a generous sprinkle of chili powder and orange slivers. Just as with other produce, roasting deepens the flavor of oranges; the rind is at once crispy, buttery, and the good kind of bitter, while the sweet flesh caramelizes into the carrots, transforming a familiar lineup into something unexpected, flavorful, and fun.

The hint of bitterness in a roasted orange rind might not be for everyone; the bitter-averse can toss the carrots with four orange slices instead of little slivers, and fish them out before serving.