Carrots with Walnuts in Vanilla Maple Glaze

My husband really loves turducken. For you non-meat-obsessed people, a turducken is a turkey that is stuffed with duck and chicken. Please translate turducken into the following: A hen inside of a duck that is inside of a turkey or Turkey-duck-hen.

Normally a turducken would be eaten at our household sometime around the winter holidays. However, we recently had word that we are going to need to move. With no official plans made, we decided to start cleaning out the freezer. All 16 pounds of poultry needs to go. So it is the first weekend of June, and we are making a meal that would be similar to a Thanksgiving Fiesta. 

I was in charge of the sides for this meal, and I had no idea what types of warm weather sides I would make for a turkey-type dinner. I decided to go with mashed red skinned potatoes (post coming soon), cheesy garlic butter biscuits, and carrots. Originally I was thinking about using sweet potatoes, but then that would mean two types of potatoes. The next best orange food would be carrots, and that was how I decided. Then my husband and I scavenged around the kitchen and found some ingredients we could use to make carrots taste somewhat like a sweet potato casserole. Vanilla, maple, and walnuts seemed like a pretty great idea.

Tasting these carrots were exceptional. They exploded in sweet flavor that was unexpected. I love mashed sweet potatoes and there are so many different types of casseroles for them. Carrots are not used as much, and to me it was just as good as it was unique. Plus, it was easy and quick. I may even make these during the weekday. That would be the true test.

This recipe yields 4 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 pound of small carrots, or long carrots cut into one inch pieces
• 2 cups water
• 1 vanilla bean pod
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (not the fake stuff!)
• ¼ cup walnut halves
• Salt to taste
• Ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place carrots into a large saucepan with water. Split the vanilla bean pod in half lengthwise with a paring knife. Scrape the seeds out of the pod using the tip of the knife and let them fall into the water with the carrots. Place the pod remains in the water and simmer the carrots on medium low heat until most of the water has cooked off.

2. Place the carrots in a bowl and add the butter immediately. Allow the butter to melt and stir it around. As you stir, add the maple syrup, walnuts, salt, and pepper.