The classic Polish way of cooking carrots is to boil them in very little water, just enough water to cover them, adding butter and a little sugar. You have to watch them carefully, but as the water, butter and sugar cook down into a glaze, you’ll be left with very tasty, tender carrots. Here, I’ve used honey instead of sugar and I have also added the more unusual flavouring of star anise – a trick I picked up from chef Marek Kropielnicki in Warsaw. You could try adding caraway seeds in place of the star anise.
Ingredients
- 8 carrots
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 star anise (or 1 tsp caraway seeds, lightly bashed)
- 2 tsp chopped flat-leaf parsley, to garnish (optional)
How to Make It
- Peel the carrots, halve or quarter them lengthways and put them into a wide saucepan. Add the butter, honey and star anise. Add cold water to just cover the carrots. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to very low and cook for 15 minutes.
- Check that the water hasn’t boiled dry – there should be some liquid around the carrots all the time. If the carrots are still a little hard, continue cooking for a further 5 minutes, or until soft.
- You won’t need to drain the carrots as there should be only a little liquid left by the time they are soft. Serve hot, with a sprinkle of parsley if using.
