Yotam Ottolenghi Grilled Carrots With Labneh and Dukkah Recipe

Grilled carrots are fresh carrots that cook on a wood, gas, or charcoal grill. Grilling is when you cook food on a metal grate over a direct heat source. To enhance the flavor of the vegetables, you can toss carrots with a marinade of olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. You can also drizzle balsamic vinegar or maple syrup over the top of the carrots after grilling. Grilled carrots are a popular side for burgers, BBQ chicken, and other summer dishes.

Grilled carrots with labneh and dukkah is a popular Mediterranean vegetable dish. Labneh, also spelled labne, is a Middle Eastern (and particularly Lebanese) strained yogurt. Labneh is spreadable like cream cheese and tangy like sour cream. Dukkah (also spelled dukka or duqqa) is a spice blend that usually contains toasted and coarsely ground sesame seeds, coriander, cumin, salt, pepper, and hazelnuts. To prepare this dish, which Chef Yotam Ottolenghi made famous, steam and then grill the carrots. Toss the carrots in a glaze of honey and apple cider vinegar, then serve them over a labneh spread. Finish the carrots with tarragon oil and a sprinkling of dukkah for extra texture and flavor.

“This recipe really works because it’s sweet, creamy, herby, and crunchy. It’s a great combination . . . You've got texture, you’ve got color, and you’ve got intense flavors. And for me, when I think of vegetables, that’s what I want, all these three elements together on one plate.” — Yotam Ottolenghi

Learn Chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s tips for preparing and plating this Mediterranean side dish:

1. 1. Buy fresh carrots. Yotam recommends getting bunches of carrots with carrot tops from “a farmers’ market or greengrocer. [They’re] so much better than commercial carrots. You get more flavor.” Medium carrots and large carrots work best for grilling; baby carrots can fall through the grill grates.
2. 2. Customize your dukkah. You can make homemade dukkah using a variety of seeds and nuts. “Pistachios look great; don't toast it too much, or it will lose its green color,” Yotam says. “Walnuts would work really well here. Za'atar is a nice addition to your dukkah because it's a little bit more herbaceous. But make it your own because it's such a wonderful thing to have in the kitchen.”
3. 3. Grill until the carrots have char marks. After steaming the carrots, place carrots diagonally on the grill using tongs and grill until char marks form. “Char marks on my vegetables are like badges of honor,” Yotam says. “It's a well-cooked vegetable.”
4. 4. Leave the carrot stems. To make the presentation more appealing, Yotam uses whole carrots with the stems intact. “I prepare the carrots for steaming really simply, just by peeling the carrots and leaving a little bit of the stem on,” Yotam says. “I love that look—you see the orange and the green.” Layer the glazed carrots on a platter, showcasing the best carrots on top.
5. 5. Plate at the last minute. Keep the dish looking fresh by waiting to plate. As Yotam says, “When you put [carrots] on the yogurt with the tarragon oil, it only keeps looking really fresh for a few minutes, so you want to do that at the very last minute.”
6. 6. Spread the labneh evenly. You can use thick yogurt in place of labneh. “Mix yogurt with a bit of cream, just to add a little bit of richness,” Yotam says. “I really like to spread it nicely all over the plate, but make a nice well in the middle. All that white creaminess is like snow, so beautiful.”