Barbecue’s newest star: grilled carrots

I have to admit, I used to hate carrots. Growing up on grocery store carrots, most often whittled down to the “baby” variety, I grew to associate their tooth-snapping brittleness and orange color with a one-note sweetness. They were “health” food that you snacked on instead of the chips you actually wanted.

It wasn’t until I bought carrots at a farmers market that were organic — you can truly taste the difference — that I changed my tune. Carrots went from being the most ho-hum vegetable I could think of to one I wanted to cook with every night for dinner.

The first spring carrots are upon us now, showing up in farmers market stands (and some discerning grocery stores) in their hues of classic orange, ruby purple, fresh butter-yellow and parsnip-like beige, and with them an awakening of different dinner possibilities. They also come with their tops still attached, a lagniappe of extra herbs that give you the best two-for-one deal at the markets.

Taking inspiration from a dish I had recently at the Silver Lake restaurant Small Town, I came up with a decidedly more grown-up version of the baby-carrots-and-ranch snack we all know. Whole carrots are cooked completely on a grill to allow them to char lightly, a delicious bitter balance to their sweetness, and then served atop labneh flavored with garlic and tahini. But instead of the typical fresh herbs mixed into the sauce, take their tops, which taste like carrot-scented parsley, and finely chop them to mix with toasted sesame seeds and sumac (or grated lemon zest) for a fresh version of za’atar, a Middle Eastern spice mix typically made with dried herbs.

Serve the carrots piled high on the sauce and sprinkled with the fresh za’atar, or take them outside for a summertime picnic. Keep the labneh sauce and fresh za’atar in separate containers and use the warm grilled carrots like breadsticks to dip them in the labneh then coat them in the za’atar. Or, for your vegetarian friends, take a cue from a recent trend and serve the carrots in hot dog buns, topped with the labneh and za’atar (if they’re vegan, swap out the labneh for any nut-based creamy cheese or thick yogurt).