Feta Topped Carrots

Oven baked carrots topped with feta are delicious and make an easy canapé. They also make a great starter, so take your pick from these two recipes. Roasting the carrots brings out their natural sweetness and the sesame seeds or pine nuts add a lovely crunch.

THE CANAPE

Ingredients

4 medium sized organic carrots 1tbs Olive oil 1tbs Sesame seeds 1tbs Honey 30gms Feta Fresh Coriander Chilli powder Salt

Method

Pre heat oven to 190c (170c fan assisted) Choose similar sized carrots. Peel and cut them into even size slices, either straight or on the slant, depending on the size of the carrots. They should be approximately 1.5cm thick.

Drizzle with the olive oil and bake on an oven tray for 20 minutes or so until they are almost cooked.

When just cool enough to handle, roll the slices in the sesame seeds. Try not to get sesame seeds on the top of the carrot slices for a neater look.

Bake for a further 5-10 minutes until they are fully cooked. When the carrots are at room temperature, drizzle a little honey on the top of each. Cut the feta into very small pieces, (sized so that 3 feta pieces will fit on each carrot slice) and place it on top of the honey. Tuck in a coriander leaf and sprinkle with a tiny pinch of chilli powder.

Season and serve.

Feta topped carrots can be made several hours ahead, but make sure they are at room temperature before serving.

THE STARTER

Not strictly make ahead, but very simple to prepare ahead and then just bake. When the carrots are cooked all that is left to do is sprinkle over the other ingredients and serve.

Ingredients - serves 4

1kg organic carrots (the small ones with tops make a great look and are especially sweet)

2 tbsp olive oil

50g pine nuts

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce (shop bought) or runny honey

80g crumbled feta

Coriander (optional)

Seasoning

Method

Pre heat oven to 190c (170c fan assisted).

Peel and cut the carrots into quarters lengthways (or if using the smaller carrots with tops, scrub them well).

Drizzle over the oil and place on a baking sheet to cook for about 20/25 minutes. Check that they are almost tender and then sprinkle over the pine nuts and cook for a further 5 minutes.

To serve, drizzle over the sweet chilli sauce (or honey), season, scatter over the feta and throw some coriander leaves over.