It’s summer, friends! Which means grilling season! Which means of course I had to make a list of all of Alison’s recipes that require (or strongly suggest) using a grill. My in-law’s live about 15 minutes away, and have both gas and charcoal grills. I plan to utilize these grills for all of the grill recipes until we move to Chicago in September.
I find it necessary to disclose that I’ve never grilled before. I still haven’t. I asked my father-in-law to monitor these carrots while I prepped the rest of the meal. That said, I intend to be more hands-on in the future!
To prep these delicious carrots, I simply tossed them in oil and salt and pepper before plopping them directly on the grill. The grill is set to medium-high, and Alison says the char should happen in 8-10 minutes. We took the carrots off at 10 minutes, but I must admit that they could have spent another 5 and gotten even softer, charred and more delicious. Margaret agreed.
That’s right, Margaret! Margaret, more than anyone else in my life, has taught me how to cook. She’s also one of my best friends. She and I cooked this recipe together, and it was such a treat.
Once grilled, the carrots are tossed in a “limey hot sauce” which is really just a mixture of lots of lime juice, honey garlic and minced jalapeño. It’s not a marinade, it’s a sauce. A very thin liquid sauce with chunks of minced jalapeño. It’s really good, and the leftovers were passed around the table for more drizzling on truly everything on our plates — Alison’s charred corn and some grilled chicken.
The final element is cotija cheese. We crumbled far more than the recipe calls for on top of the carrots. Margaret would have liked for a better way for the getting the cotija to adhere to the carrots. It tended to fall off once plated, which meant scooping up cheese crumbles with your fork after each bite of carrot. Doable, but not ideal, nor elegant. Although, can you eat carrots elegantly? I’m unsure.
Overall, these carrots are a fun summer night dish that most definitely will appear again in meals to come.
90 recipes cooked, 135 to go.
