Heirloom Carrot Salad, Yogurt, Almond & Honey Dressing

Chef

Cookbook

Mr. Wilkinson's Vegetables

Published by Black Dog & Leventhal

View

This image courtesy of Jacqui Melville

Quite simply a beautiful dish. The almond and honey dressing really lifts the carrots to a new level. Please try it. This looks spectacular plated individually or on a big platter for the center of the table.

NotesIf purslane, fenugreek and/or nasturtium leaves and flowers aren't readily available, you could just use Italian parsley, baby basil shoots and some small arugula leaves.

Serves4 as an entrée or as a salad to share

CostModerate

Total Timeunder 30 minutes

Make Ahead RecipeYes

Kid FriendlyYes

One Pot MealYes

OccasionCasual Dinner Party, Family Get-together, Formal Dinner Party

Recipe Courseappetizer, main course

Dietary Considerationegg-free, gluten-free, halal, kosher, peanut free, soy free, vegetarian

Five Ingredients or LessYes

Mealdinner, lunch

Taste and Texturenutty, savory, sweet

Type of Dishsalad, vegetable

Ingredients

20 small heirloom carrots (purple, white and orange varieties or just use small Dutch carrots), washed and trimmed (but not peeled)
3/4 cup organic plain yogurt
1/2 bunch fenugreek or purslane, picked and washed
8 small nasturtium leaves
8 nasturtium flowers (any color)
Almond & Honey Dressing:
3/4 cup organic raw almonds, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons honey (I use orange blossom)
1 tablespoon chardonnay vinegar
1 tablespoon orange-flower water
Juice of 1 lemon
1 long red chili, sliced
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt

Instructions

For the almond and honey dressing, place the almonds and butter in a 4-cup capacity saucepan. Place over medium heat and gently warm until the butter starts to foam. Keep it on the heat and when the butter turns a hazelnut color (beurre noisette), add the honey. Bring to a boil, then reduce by one-fifth. Add the vinegar, orange-flower water and lemon juice, bring to a boil, turn down the heat and cook gently for 3 minutes. Pull off the heat, add the chili, olive oil, and a pinch of salt and mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool. This dressing will keep in the fridge for up to 2 months--just gently warm before using.
Place the carrots in a saucepan of cold salted water and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook for 8 minutes or until tender. Test the carrots with a sharp knife to see if they're cooked. Drain, then while the carrots are still hot, cut the larger ones in half, place in a bowl and toss in 3 tablespoons of the dressing.
To assemble, place one-quarter of the yogurt on each plate, then assemble the carrots on top. Dress with a little more dressing (making sure to scoop some of the almonds up) and scatter over the herbs and flowers.