You guys, I made this salad last night, and I think you should try it immediately. Sure, it’s a little fussy for a salad. But it is worth it. So worth it.
First, you poach some carrots. You make a vinaigrette of sorts, with dried chiles, cumin, and garlic, and then you drizzle it all over the warm carrots, and toss them in the oven to roast, along with an orange and a lemon (what?!). You toast some crusty bread, and slice up an avocado. Then, you make a simple, simple dressing with the roasted citrus, and you assemble everything into a big ol’ lovely salad, and you eat it, blissfully.
I tend not to be super creative with my salads. I have a standard that includes shredded carrots, celery, and roasted red peppers. I love coming across recipes for salads that stretch my notion of what a salad should and could be, and this one (from March’s Food and Wine) certainly does that.
I’m starting another juice cleanse today, and this salad (sans chicken, in my bowl) was a wonderful send off into the land of green juices. It’s a filling main course salad, with the croutons and creamy avocados, and it will make you feel all healthy and vibrant. At least that’s how it made me feel. The carrots get a great kick from being roasted with the chile vinaigrette, and the whole thing smells kind of amazing.
I will not only be incorporating this salad into our regular rotation, but I can’t wait to use some of the ideas elsewhere, like roasting citrus for a vinaigrette, and drizzling more than one dressing onto a salad (the cooling yogurt and bring citrus combination here was fantastic).
Three cheers for salads that go beyond your boring old usual.
- 10 medium carrots
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon dried chiles, like piri piri chiles
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 orange
- 1 lemon
- Four 1/2-inch-thick slices of crusty bread (I used a wheat loaf)
- 1 Hass avocados, pitted, peeled and cut into cubes
- 2 cups mixed greens
- 2 cups baby arugula
- 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted roasted sunflower seeds
- 1 1/2 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
- 3 tablespoons yogurt mixed with 1-2 tablespoons of water
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Peel the carrots, and if you’d like, cut off the tops. If your carrots are especially thick, you can cut them in half lengthwise.
- Put the carrots in a skillet and add enough water to almost cover them. Cover the skillet and bring the liquid to a boil. Let the carrots cook for about 7-10 minutes, or until they are just beginning to soften, then drain them and put them on a roasting pan.
- Meanwhile, make the chile vinaigrette: Grind the cumin seeds and the dried chiles in a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle. Add a good pinch of salt, as much black pepper as your prefer, and the garlic clove. Smash this into a nice paste, then stir in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar.
- Mix the chile vinaigrette with the carrots. Slice the orange and the lemon in half, and add them to the roasting pan, cut side down. Roast the carrots and citrus for 25 minutes. If you want some extra protein, you can also throw a chicken breast in, on a separate pan, and roast that at the same time.
- When the carrots are almost done roasting, mix the greens together in a bowl. Toast the bread until it’s crunchy, then tear it into one-inch pieces, and add them to the bowl with the greens. Cut up the avocado, and add it to the bowl, and give everything a good toss. Mix the sesame seeds and the sunflower seeds together in a small bowl, and mix the yogurt with enough water to thin it in another small bowl.
- Remove the carrots and citrus from the oven. Using a pair of tongs, squeeze the orange and lemon halves into a measuring cup until you have about 1/3 of a cup of juice. Add a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, and about 1/3 cup of olive oil, and whisk it together to make a vinaigrette.
- Separate the greens, bread, and avocado onto two separate plates. Top with the carrots, sprinkle with the seeds, and drizzle with both the yogurt and the citrus vinaigrette, and serve immediately.