This dish was inspired by a fun trip I took up Highway 1 in California a few years ago. I stopped at a fantastic restaurant in Santa Barbara that featured some truly fun dishes. While I can’t remember the name of the restaurant, the concept of this dish has really stuck with through the years and I figured it was finally time to bring it to life! Carrots have a lot of natural sugars that are accentuated by the high heat of the broiler. When combined with the buttery sweetness of creme fraiche and a hint of heat from harissa, this turns into something magical. Plus, everything is better with creme fraiche, right?

Harissa is an amazing ingredient everyone should try. It is packed full of flavor and adds a wonderfully pleasant amount of heat to any dish. If you can’t find it at your local grocery store or international market, there are many options available on Amazon. When it comes to carrots, I prefer purple or red just for contrast purposes but feel free to use whatever color you fancy. While on the topic of carrots, they actually have a rather interesting history on how we came to the almost ubiquitous orange carrot we see today. From stories of the orange color paying tribute to William of Orange (who led the struggle for Dutch independence) to a variety of genetic studies, the World Carrot Museum describes how this popular food was distilled down to a single variety over the years.