Cooking with wine is fun – sometimes we even add it to the food! Wine-based recipes are always a good bet to spruce up everyday dishes. One of our favourites has got to be Chardonnay carrots, a very fun take on the humble roasted carrot. This is a perfect side dish or sharing plate for a wine tasting party!
Picking the right wine for your Chardonnay carrots
Good chefs swear by the quality of their ingredients – and we do, too! You may not always think of wine as an ingredient, but when it comes to our recipe for Chardonnay carrots, it’s perhaps the most important ingredient of all! Picking the right wine can make or break the dish, but don’t overthink it. As the name suggests, this recipe calls for a Chardonnay wine, but you can experiment with other white wines too if you like!
For best results, though, it’s gotta be a Chardonnay. The exact wine is up to you, but in all cases, make sure that it’s a wine you’d happily drink yourself. If you cook with a poor quality wine, you’ll end up with a lousy dish. Nobody wants that!
- Our pick: We’d love to say a fine white Burgundy, but let’s be realistic.Castillo de Monjardin Chardonnay 2016 will be just fine. From the value-driven Navarra region close to Rioja, this is the right mix of quality and value. With a beautiful array of fruit, floral and herb aromas, this’ll do nicely with our Chardonnay carrots!
Chardonnay carrots recipe
The wine is key here, but it’s not the only ingredient. As with all produce, the fresher stuff you can get, the better. Visit your local farmer’s market or organic supermarket to get the best possible veggies.
- 150 milliliters of Castillo de Monjardin Chardonnay 2016 (or Chardonnay of your choice)
- 500 grams of baby carrots
- 1 handful of fresh thyme
- 4 tablespoons of butter or margarine
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Chardonnay carrots method
This is deceptively simple, so don’t worry. There are a few important steps that you’ve got to follow, and you’ll be chowing down on some seriously tasty Chardonnay carrots in no time.
- First things first: Open your Chardonnay and pour yourself a glass! We’re cooking with wine, after all! While you’re doing this, preheat the oven to 220°C.
- Take a large strip of tinfoil, about a metre and a half in length. Fold it in half.
- Arrange your carrots, thyme, butter, salt and pepper (if using) in the centre of the tinfoil. Fold up each side to create “walls”, and pour in your Chardonnay.
- Scrunch the tinfoil into a sealed package and place in a baking tray inside your preheated oven.
- Cook for about 45 minutes, until your Chardonnay carrots are nice and tender, having absorbed the wine.
- Top up that glass of Chardonnay, serve and enjoy!
Making luxury Chardonnay carrots
The freshness of your ingredients will make or break this dish, and picking the right wine is also crucial. A Chardonnay like the one we’ve recommended is full of flavour and will really make for a tasty, easy dish. If you want something really special, we’ve got two extra tips:
- Add cumin or other spices before putting your Chardonnay carrots in the oven, for a more exotic flavour!
- Trade up your wine by picking a full-flavoured Australian Chardonnay, like Pierro Chardonnay 2002. This mature white wine offers a vast array of complex aromas and flavours including toffee, peach and vanilla.
Happy cooking!
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