Roasted Rainbow Carrots On Pureed Lemony Butterbeans

This recipe was originally written for Eco Age

I love the colours of rainbow carrots. It somehow seems to make carrots seem far more delicious but the flavour in rainbow or heritage carrots is often more delicious too. The taste is richer, more carroty and almost sweeter. I love pairing them with the bright green zippy pistachio pesto and the lemony butterbean puree makes this dish a real contender as a centre stage main as well as adding a dose of plant based protein too. Enjoy this with the carrots warm from the oven or if you are serving this at a dinner party and want to get ahead with prep it is equally delicious enjoyed at room temperature.

| Serves 4-6 |

Ingredients

800g rainbow carrots
Olive oil
Sea salt
240g drained butter beans (usually a 400g can)
1 lemon
Pinch of salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 small garlic cloves, finely chopped
100g shelled pistachios
Salt
Large brunch basil

Method

Preheat your oven to 200° fan setting. Wash and slice your carrots in half length ways (quartering any very large ones). Roast for 30-40 minutes until cooked through and slightly browned.
Whilst your carrots are cooking heat a tablespoon of olive oil gently in a pan and add half of the chopped garlic. Cook until softened and fragrant but not bowned. Switch off the heat and allow to cools lightly.
Open your butterbeans and before draining them take one tablespoon of the liquid and place in a food processor. Then drain the butterbeans and add them to the food processor.
Add the garlic from the pan along with any residual oil. Then add the zest of the lemon and just half it’s juice as well as a two further tablespoons of olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Blitz until you have a smooth puree. Taste to season.
Rinse and dry your food processor and then add the pistachios, remaining lemon juice (you should have ½ a lemon), remaining garlic, basil and a pinch of salt. Pulse until well broken down.
Pour the broken down basil pistachio mix into a small bowl and gently add a stream of olive oil until you have reached desired consistency. I like a chunky pesto.
To serve spoon the butterbean puree onto a serving dish, arrange the rainbow carrots over and spoon over the pesto.

This works well served alongside this Purple Sprouting Broccoli and this Crispy chilli, garlic, rosemary potatoes.