Moroccan Grilled Carrots with Nigella Seeds on Butter Bean Puree

Moroccan Grilled Carrots with Nigella Seeds on Butter Bean Puree

There are dishes that look like they took all day and taste like they did too, and then there is this one. Smoky, sweet grilled carrots draped in a warm vinegar and spice dressing, piled on top of a silky, garlicky butter bean puree, and finished with a shower of nigella seeds and fresh parsley. It is stunning on a plate and genuinely extraordinary to eat.

Inspired by the bold, layered flavors of Moroccan cooking, this dish is plant-based without announcing it, the kind of thing that satisfies completely and leaves everyone at the table asking what exactly just happened. Serve it as a showstopping vegetarian main or a side dish that steals the whole dinner. Either way, it belongs at your summer table.

The Bean: Baby Butter Beans, Grown by Chris Capaul in Sacramento Valley

The puree is the soul of this dish, and the bean is everything.

Our Baby Butter Beans are the best-selling bean in our shop, and for good reason. Small, creamy, and delicate, they have a naturally buttery flavor and a tender texture that blends into the smoothest, most luxurious puree you have ever made. Their broth is light-bodied, fresh, and herbal, and they pair beautifully with grassy olive oil, lemon, and garlic, exactly the flavors that anchor this dish.

Chris Capaul's family has been farming California's Sacramento Valley since 1915, and he still has his great-grandfather's original horse-drawn bean cutter. As farms across the region grew bigger through consolidation, Chris held the line, growing his Baby Butter Beans in careful rotation with rice, a method that nurtures the soil naturally and produces beans far richer in flavor than anything you will find at the grocery store. Non-GMO, grown without glyphosate, and harvested fresh each fall.

Blended with a splash of their own cooking liquid, a squeeze of lemon, and a whisper of garlic, these beans become something close to magical. A cloud of a puree that carries every other flavor on the plate and makes the whole dish sing.

A Note on Nigella Seeds

If you have not cooked with nigella seeds before, this is a wonderful introduction. Sometimes called black seed or kalonji, these small dark seeds have a flavor that is slightly bitter, faintly onion-like, and deeply aromatic. They add a gentle crunch and a complexity that is completely their own. Sprinkled over the finished dish they are not just garnish, they are essential.

*A Note On Our Recipes:

Every recipe here was developed and tested using farm-fresh beans from Foodocracy and Primary Beans. Older beans, anything past a year in your pantry or beans from other sources may need more coaxing. Give them a soak and add extra cooking time, and they'll get there eventually.

MOROCCAN GRILLED CARROTS WITH NIGELLA SEEDS ON BUTTER BEAN PUREE

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This delectable plant based dish combines the smoky sweetness of grilled carrots with the aromatic allure of nigella seeds, all atop a luxurious bed of butter bean puree. 

Author:

Lisa Riznikove

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry Baby Butter Beans

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• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

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• 1 + 1/2 garlic cloves, minced (divided)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
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• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bunch large carrots sliced in half lengthwise
• 1/2 lemon juiced
• ¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

• 1 tablespoon nigella seeds

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Directions

1. Cook the butter beans with just salt, enough water to cover by a couple inches and a drizzle of olive oil. Pressure cooker on high for 25 minutes then allow pressure to release naturally for at least 15 minutes. Or cook on the stovetop for aprox. 60-90 minutes.

2. Preheat the grill to medium low.
3. Combine the vinegar, 1 clove garlic, cumin, paprika, honey, salt and olive oil in a small bowl and set aside.
4. Drizzle the carrots with olive oil then generously season them with salt and pepper tossing to coat.
5. Grill the carrots 5-8 minutes per side until they have grill marks and are fork tender.
6. Remove and allow to cool.
7. Put the beans in a blender with a tablespoon of the cooking liquid, lemon juice, 1/2 clove of garlic, a sprinkle of salt and freshly cracked pepper. Blend until smooth.
8. Spread the bean puree on the bottom of a serving plate.
9. Toss the carrots in the dressing, use tongs to place the carrots on top of the bean puree, sprinkle with parsley and nigella seeds and enjoy.

Recipe Note

Every recipe here was developed and tested using farm-fresh beans from Foodocracy and Primary Beans. Older beans, anything past a year in your pantry, or beans from other sources may need more coaxing. Give them a soak and add extra cooking time, and they'll get there eventually.