This Holiday Season, Try These 13 Festive Feasts and Drinks from Black Chefs

Roasted Carrots Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs carrots

1 piece ginger

3 tbsps golden raisins

1 bunch parsley

2 tbsps honey

2 tbsps roasted pistachios

Mushroom-Braised Greens

2 bunches collard greens or kale

1/2 lb mushrooms

1/2 oz dried Shiitake mushrooms

1 red onion

2 tbsps soy sauce

2 tbsps rice vinegar

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Roasted Carrots Directions

Remove the honey from the refrigerator to bring to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Wash and dry the fresh produce.

Peel the carrots; halve crosswise, then halve lengthwise. Transfer to a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Arrange in an even layer.

Roast 30 to 32 minutes, or until browned and tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from the oven.

Prepare the remaining ingredients

Peel the ginger; finely chop to get 2 teaspoons (you may have extra).

Roughly chop the pistachios.

Roughly chop the parsley leaves and stems.

Make the syrup & finish the carrots

Once the carrots have roasted for about 25 minutes, in a small pot (or pan), combine the chopped ginger, raisins, honey (kneading the packet before opening), a pinch of salt, and 1/4 cup of water. Cook on medium-high, stirring frequently, 4 to 5 minutes, or until thickened to a syrup-like consistency.

Transfer to a large bowl. Immediately add the roasted carrots; toss to coat. Taste, then season with salt and pepper if desired.

Serve the finished carrots garnished with the chopped pistachios and chopped parsley.

Mushroom-Braised Greens

Place the dried mushrooms in a large bowl; add 3 cups of hot water and set aside to rehydrate at least

10 minutes.

Wash and dry the fresh produce.

Halve, peel, and thinly slice the onion.

Thinly slice the fresh mushrooms.

Separate the collard green or kale leaves from the stems; discard the stems and roughly chop the leaves.

Braise the greens

Reserving the liquid, drain the rehydrated mushrooms. Transfer to a cutting board; roughly chop.

In a large pot, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high until hot.

Add the sliced onion, sliced mushrooms, and as much of the red pepper flakes as you’d like, depending on how spicy you’d like the dish to be; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 3 to 4 minutes, or until slightly softened.

Add the chopped rehydrated mushrooms, reserved liquid, chopped collard greens or kale, and soy sauce. Cover the pot and cook, without stirring, 8 to 10 minutes, or until the greens are wilted.

Uncover the pot and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, 18 to 20 minutes, or until the greens are tender and the liquid is reduced in volume by half.

Turn off the heat and stir in the vinegar. Taste, then season with salt and pepper if desired. Enjoy!

Edouardo Jordan didn’t set out to become a chef until about a year after his graduation from the University of Florida when he changed tracks from sports management and enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu. With a non-traditional path to the kitchen, his first culinary job was as a server, then a chocolatier assistant, then the fry guy at a Mexican restaurant as his first kitchen job. Eventually, he climbed his way to being the chef de cuisine at Bar Sajor in 2015, he opened his first restaurant in Seattle, Salare. Salare takes influences from France, Italy, the American south, and the Caribbean and has become one of Seattle’s hottest restaurants. In 2017, he opened his second restaurant, JuneBaby, where the mission of “Food with Roots” is front and center EJ was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2016, has been named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chef of 2016, Salare was listed as a best new restaurant in America in 2016 by Eater National, and is a 2017 James Beard Award finalist.

Instagram: @edouardojordan