Taste testers enjoy carrots with horseradish

Because so many of the newsroom taste testers enjoyed the horseradish sauce that accompanied my corned beef & cabbage last week, I decided to try to repeat the success with a recipe for Horseradish Creamed Carrots this week in the Times Leader test kitchen.

Guess what ? They liked it!

“It’s very good,” said reporter Margaret Roarty, who is a carrot fan. “I would absolutely make it.”

“I do like carrots,” page designer Ashley Bringmann said. “I would make this for a holiday.”

“It has Easter written all over it,” news editor Roger DuPuis said.

Reporter Kevin Carroll liked the dish overall, and columnist Bill O’Boyle pronounced it “OK,” but both said they would have preferred more horseradish flavor.

The recipe called for one-quarter cup of the spicy stuff, and that’s the amount I used. But while horseradish usually is an attention-getting ingredient, I’m guessing the mayonnaise and half-and-half muted its bite, at least a little bit.

Some tasters appreciated the subtlety of the toned-down horseradish flavor.

“It definitely wasn’t overpowering,” Margaret said, “but I could taste it.”

“It’s just right,” Roger said.

“Now we’ll have another side dish for when company comes over,” my husband/fellow test cook Mark said.

“I think it’s really good,” page designer Lyndsay Bartos said. “It reminds me of when you go to a fair and get a blooming onion and have that spicy dipping sauce.”

But not every potential taste tester was willing to even try the carrots.

“I just brushed my teeth,” photographer Tony Callaio said, shaking his head and backing away.

Still, for the most part, I was basking in taste-tester approval.

“It’s a really good side dish,” Margaret said, “But I’d probably eat it by itself.”

“The recipe is a prize winner,” I said.

“I can see why,” said Ashley.

Actually, the recipe came from the 2010 edition of a cookbook called “Taste of Home Contest Winning Annual Recipes,” which credited it to one Meredith Sayre of Burlington, Ky.

I’ve been privately thinking of this as a “13K gold” recipe because there were 13 carrots in the 2-pound bag I purchased this week at Aldi’s, and orange as a color reminds me of gold.

In any case, thanks to Meredith from the Bluegrass State for sharing this tasty concoction:

Horseradish Creamed Carrots

2 pounds carrots, cut into 1/2-inch slices

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/3 half-and-half cream

1/4 cup prepared horseradish

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup crushed corn flakes

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions:

1. Place 1 inch of water in a saucepan; add the carrots. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until crisp-tender; drain.

2. In a large bowl, combine the mayonnaise, cream, horseradish, onion, salt and pepper; add carrots and toss to coat.

3. Transfer mixture to a greased 1 and 1/2 quart baking dish. Combine corn flake crumbs and butter; sprinkle over the carrots.

4. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly. Yield: 6 servings.