Take it from me: You must prepare this salad. Possibly tonight? And once more this weekend for friends?
Carrots are at their finest in this bizarre-looking showpiece. A fascinating, tempting contrast of tender and crunchy is provided by pairing caramelized roasted carrots with incredibly thin rounds of raw carrots.
You end up with a salad that is so much more than the sum of its parts when you top it with a perfectly ripe avocado, fresh herbs, and my sunny salad dressing.
The carrot and avocado salad at Corvino, one of my favorite restaurants in Kansas City, served this salad as its model. If you’ve had the good pleasure to eat that salad, you undoubtedly share my obsession with it.
Pine nuts, black lime, several mints, and two sauces are ingredients in Corvino’s salad. Every time I visit, I always order it since the outcome is absolutely spectacular.
The only drawback to their salad is that it’s challenging to make at home. I therefore created this salad. The salad is not the same! But it’s simple to make at home, and I’m just as crazy about it.
Notes & Tips for Salad
Key to a great avocado is ripeness. Squeeze an avocado gently; choose ones that yield slightly but don’t have any mushy areas. If your avocados aren’t quite ripe, you can hasten their ripening by placing them in a paper bag together with an apple or banana for one to three days. If the avocados you bought are perfect but you won’t be cooking the salad that day, store them in the refrigerator to delay ripening.
In freezing water, soak the raw carrot rounds. The carrots get deliciously crisp and chilly as a result of this procedure. Avoid skipping this!
You can use any fresh, leafy herb. The least expensive herb is cilantro, although dill, basil, and mint are also fantastic. Make use of at least two different varieties for extra-fresh flavor.
Prepare the salad dressing ahead of time. My honey-mustard salad dressing with a yogurt base, called “Sunshine Dish Dressing,” is required for this salad. There will be more than enough dressing for green salads. It’s fantastic! In fact, if you’re going to make this salad quickly later, you could even roast the carrots in advance.
Please comment and let me know what you think of this salad. Please use the hashtag #cookieandkate so I won’t miss this gem on Instagram. I’m also curious about the accompaniments you’ll be serving this salad with.
A fan of this salad? My sunshine quinoa slaw, which uses the same dressing and lots of fresh ingredients, is another dish I think you’ll like. This farmers’ market bowl, which includes roasted carrots and a herb yogurt sauce, is not to be missed. or my colorful chopped salad and accompanying carrot-ginger salad dressing.
Also read: Super Simple Marinara Sauce
INGREDIENTS
- 2 pounds carrots, divided
- 1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt
- 1 large or 2 small ripe avocado
- 4 tablespoons sunshine salad dressing
- ⅓ cup chopped green onion
- ⅓ cup torn fresh leafy herbs (basil, mint, dill and/or cilantro)
- ¾ teaspoon flaky sea salt or ½ teaspoon kosher salt, to taste
- Pinch of red pepper flakes (omit if sensitive to spice)
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup.
- To prepare the carrots: First, peel all the carrots. Then, reserve 3 large carrots and set them aside. Slice the remaining carrots on the diagonal into pieces about ½″ thick and 1 ½″ long. On the baking sheet, toss the carrot pieces with enough olive oil to lightly coat them. Arrange them in a single layer and sprinkle them lightly with salt. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, tossing halfway, until the carrots are tender and turning deeply golden on the edges.
- Meanwhile, slice the remaining 3 carrots into very thin rounds (about as thin as you possibly can; you should have about 1+ cup sliced). Place the carrot rounds in a bowl, and fill the rest of the bowl with cold water and a handful of ice cubes (this will make the carrots nice and crisp). Set the bowl aside.
- When the carrots are done roasting, arrange them across a large platter. Drain the carrot rounds well, and sprinkle them all over the roasted carrots.
- Halve the avocado(s) and remove the pit(s). Thinly slice half of the avocado and carefully scoop out the pieces with a large spoon. Arrange the slices in sections over the salad. Dice the rest of the avocado, scoop out the pieces and arrange them all over the salad.
- Drizzle the salad dressing lightly all over the salad by the tablespoon, then sprinkle the green onion and leafy herbs on top. Finish by sprinkle the salt, red pepper flakes (if using) and a few twists of black pepper on top. Serve promptly, as the avocado will brown over time.