Char-Broiled Carrots in Salsa Verde by Ooni

For a budget-friendly dish that goes with just about everything from the grill, it’s tough to do better than char-broiled carrots. When you make them in the high heat of an Ooni Pizza oven, you can get that dish done and served in about a third of the time with some wonderful charring to make an even more complex flavor profile. Plus, how colorful is this dish? The deep orange set in a golden green salsa verde appointed with bright white ricotta cheese on top? It’ll be tough to avoid taking a pic for your Insta, for sure.

Ingredients for the char-broiled carrots:

5 to 6 whole carrots
¼ cup (30 grams) extra-virgin olive oil
2 ¼ teaspoons(10 grams) sea salt

Ingredients for the salsa verde:

10 Medium Tomatillos
3-5 Jalapeno or Serrano peppers
1/3 Section White Onion
3-4 Cloves of Garlic
Big handful fresh Cilantro
1 cup Water
Juice and zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon (15 grams) sea salt

For serving:

½ cup (100 grams) ricotta
1 teaspoon (5 grams) cracked black pepper

Cooking Instructions for Char-Broiled Carrots

Heat your Ooni Pizza Oven to 600F (315C), which will take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes.

Toss carrots with ¼ cup (30 grams) of olive oil and 2 ¼ teaspoons (10 grams) of salt in either a large bowl or in your cooking skillet with your hands or a pair of tongs. Then place the carrots in a single layer in your cast iron skillet, leaving the lid off.

Roast in your Ooni oven for 10 to 12 minutes, check with a fork to gauge tenderness every three or four minutes until your carrots are slightly charred or the fork goes into the vegetable easily.

Instructions for making Salsa Verde

Peel and wash tomatillos. Transfer them to your cast iron griddle. Add washed serrano peppers. Also add sliced onion and garlic(with skins on). Heat to medium.

You will flip and turn the ingredients as they begin to blister and blacken in some spots. It’s important to remove the garlic after around 15 minutes so it doesn’t burn. Total time is about 25 minutes of cooking time. Move the whole griddle off of the heat and let the ingredients cool there for 15 minutes.

Peel the garlic and remove the stems from the serrano peppers. Transfer garlic, peppers, onion and tomatillos to the blender. Add fresh cilantro, water and salt to taste. Blend on high until smooth. Just before serving with the char-broiled carrots, zest some of your lemon peel into the salsa verde.

The last step before serving is adding a generous smear of ricotta cheese to your serving plate, placing the char-broiled carrots and salsa verde over the top, and grinding some fresh black pepper over it all.

If you want to cook your blended salsa for 10 minutes at a steady simmer it will last longer in your refrigerator. But if you make just enough for the dish of char-broiled carrots, then leave the salsa as is to enjoy the fresh flavors of the cilantro and partially cooked tomatillos. For a smoother salsa that will last a few more days refrigerated, go ahead and cook the salsa for 7-10 minutes at a steady simmer. Store in glass jars refrigerated.

If you would like to preserve your salsa for even longer, like a few weeks, you could add 1 tbsp of white vinegar per 1 cup of cooked salsa. You do this while it’s cooking. Remember that the vinegar will add some acidity, so adjust the salt accordingly.