Roasted Farmers Market Carrots with Cilantro Yogurt Sauce

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If you’re wondering how you can support the farmers, ranchers, fisherman and local artisan producers who have been profoundly impacted by restaurant closures (often their primary source of income) due to Covid-19 restrictions, and now by the recent wildfires fires affecting Northern California, this farmers market box from CUESA is a delicious option. Show your love for our local farms and enjoy the freshest produce from the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market by ordering a CUESA’s Farmers Market Box (available for curbside pickup). Be sure to use the discount code EDIBLESF to get $5 off your box.

As a longtime Ferry Plaza Farmers Market shopper, we’ve developed a specific routine (also known as a rut) over the years for how we navigate and shop the market. We always enter at the same spot, hit the same vendors in a particular order, and for the most part, purchase the same things, year after year. When our friends at CUESA generously offered us one of their farmers market boxes we recognized an opportunity to get out of our comfort zone and and embrace whatever ingredients the box contained (below).

This week’s box was full of these seasonal fruits and vegetables and along with the simple recipe (below) for the carrots from McGinnis Ranch there were:

• Romano beans from Iacopi Farms, which we’re going to prepare with Edible SF contributor, Molly Watson’s recipe: Romano Beans Smothered in Garlicky Tomatoes (using the luscious tomatoes from All Star Organics that were in the box too).
• Lemon cucumbers from Zuckerman’s Farm. We have a bottle of mustard oil in the pantry and this recipe for Mustard Oil Cucumber Salad from Bay Area cookbook author Nik Sharma is one of our favorite ways to prepare cukes.
• Sweet Italian peppers from Everything Under the Sun are going into this muhammara recipe from Edible Phoenix.
• We’ll be making these sweet corn and squash fritters with avocado crema from Kimberley Hasselbrink’s Vibrant Food cookbook with the baby summer squash from McGinnis Ranch, Brentwood sweet corn from G&S Farms and Hass avocados from Brokaw Ranch.
• Some sturdy mixed greens and red Russian kale from Marin Root Farms went into a simple braise for our chicken dinner on Sunday night.
• Raspberries from Yrena Farms were stirred into our yogurt for breakfast and we’re waiting for the precise moment of ripeness to bite into the peaches from Kashiwase Farms.

As you can see, there is an abundance of fresh and healthy goods from which to cook your favorite recipes or experiment with some new ones. Order your box today and support our local farmers. They need our help now more than ever.
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Roasted Farmers Market Carrots with Cilantro Yogurt Sauce

Print Recipe

Roasting carrots whole is one of the easiest and foolproof ways to prepare them and “your body has an easier time absorbing the carotenoids in carrots if you eat them cooked rather than raw. Cooking breaks down the vegetable’s cell walls, making its nutrients more available.”

A simple yogurt sauce adds a savory contrast to the sweetness of the carrots.

• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 
  
  1 bunch small carrots




• 
  
  3 tablespoons olive oil, divided




• 
  
  Kosher salt




• 
  
  1 teaspoon coriander seeds




• 
  
  1 teaspoon cumin seeds




• 
  
  1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt




• 
  
  1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice




• 
  
  ¼ cup cilantro leaves, plus blossoms and seeds if available




• 
  
  1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

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Instructions

1. Carrots: Preheat an oven to 400ºF. Cut off the carrot tops and scrub clean. On a sheet pan, toss the carrots with one tablespoon of the olive oil and sprinkle with a big pinch of kosher salt. Roast for 15 minutes or until a knife tip inserted into the carrots still meets some resistance in the middle.
2. Spices: While the carrots are roasting, heat one tablespoon olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add the coriander and cumin seeds to bloom (fry) them for 30 seconds. Why bloom spices? “There are two very good reasons for frying ground spices in oil, one chemical and the other physical. First, heating up the spices in oil releases fat-soluble flavor compounds contained within spices like cumin and coriander. Second, adding spices to cooking oil will distribute their flavor far more efficiently in the finished dish than either adding them to the liquid component or stirring them in at the end.”
3. Yogurt: Let the spices and oil cool for a couple minutes and then combine with the yogurt, lemon juice and cilantro leaves in a mortar pestle or food processor. Mix until almost smooth, adding more olive oil and lemon juice if needed.
4. Serve: Plate the carrots and spoon 2-3 tablespoons of the yogurt sauce on top (serving the rest on the side). Garnish with the cilantro blossoms, seeds and the sesame seeds.

Notes

Our garden cilantro is perpetually bolting, producing a steady supply of blossoms and seeds, but you can find big bunches of cilantro blossoms at farmers markets this time of year. We usually see them at the Dirty Girl Produce stand at the CUESA market.

The Japanese Pantry stocks these organic roasted black sesame seeds, one of our favorites, which we also use to garnish the cucumber salad mentioned above.

• Author: Bruce Cole
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Category: vegetables
• Method: roast
• Cuisine: California

Keywords: roasted carrots, farmers market, yogurt, cilantro

You also might like our Roasted Green Beans recipe.