Carrots à la Portugaise

The only carrot recipe in From the Hearth is a glazed carrot dish with a touch of floral flavour from orange blossom water.

We made this dish for Thanksgiving this year, along with fillet of beef pâté, dessert cream, and tarts (plus some delicious compote with rhubarb from our garden).

Ingredients

1 lb carrots, cut in sticks

For clarified sugar:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 egg white, beaten (if desired - modern sugar is free from impurities and does not require this step)
Cheesecloth

1 egg yolk
1/8 tsp orange flower water
2 tbsp double cream

Instructions

Partially cook carrots by boiling (~10 mins). Drain well. 

In a large saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Stir in the egg white. Skim the top of impurities. When the surface remains free, strain the syrup through the cheesecloth. 

Return the syrup to the saucepan. Continue to boil uncovered until thick and caramel-coloured.  

Stir in the partly-cooked carrots to coat evenly. 

Mix the egg yolk, orange blossom water, and cream together, then stir into the carrots.  Serve warm.  

(Parsnips can be cooked in the same manner). 

The verdict

These were very good! I put in a bit more orange flower water than the recipe suggests, which made them quite floral. Probably would go with the stated amount in future, but I’d make these again!