L’Etoile: Hickory glazed carrots
Itaru Nagano, former executive sous chef at L’Etoile, provided this recipe. In 2020, Nagano and fellow chef/business partner Andrew Kroeger opened Fairchild, an elegant neighborhood restaurant on Monroe Street in Madison.
"We usually keep the skins on the carrots, but peeling them works also," Nagano said. "For the blanch, we cryovac the carrots with olive oil and salt and place it in simmering water." Serve with mashed or roasted potatoes and grilled rib-eye.
INGREDIENTS
6 spring carrots
2 ounces chicken stock
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
10 hickory nuts, toasted and roughly chopped**
1 ounce hickory syrup*
1 teaspoon fine herbs (optional)
1.5 ounce Emmi Roth Moody Blue cheese
Blanch carrots in salted simmering water until tender. In a saute pan, heat up chicken stock and carrots until the chicken stock starts to boil. Add hickory syrup and butter and toss in the pan until the chicken stock has evaporated and the carrots have a shiny sheen. Add hickory nuts and fine herbs.
Set the glazed carrots on a plate and crumble cheese on top.
*If you cannot find hickory syrup, use grade A maple syrup.
**If you have problems finding hickory nuts, they can be replaced with walnuts or pecans.