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: Jessica’s Marinated Chickpeas
INGREDIENTS
- 2 pounds of divided carrots
- A tablespoon or two of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
- 1 or 2 ripe avocados, large or little
- 4 teaspoons of sundressing salad
- 13 cup finely chopped green onion
- 13 cup torn fresh leafy herbs (cilantro, dill, mint, basil)
- 12 teaspoon kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt, as desired
- Red pepper flakes with a pinch (omit if sensitive to spice)
- black pepper, freshly ground, to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- To make cleanup simple, line a big, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- To get the carrots ready: Peel each and every carrot first. Next, set aside 3 large carrots for later. Cut the remaining carrots into pieces that are 1 12 inches long and 1/2 inch thick on the diagonal. Add just enough olive oil on the baking sheet to lightly coat the carrot slices. Lightly salt them and spread them out in a single layer. Bake the carrots for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring them halfway through, until they are soft and the edges are turning a rich golden color.
- Slice the remaining 3 carrots into rounds that are extremely thin (about as thin as you can; you should have more than 1 cup cut). Put the carrot rounds in a bowl, and then top it over with some ice cubes and cold water (this will make the carrots nice and crisp). Discard the bowl.
- After the carrots have finished roasting, spread them out on a sizable tray. Sprinkle the carrot rounds evenly over the cooked carrots after thoroughly draining them.
- Remove the pit and cut the avocado(s) in half (s). Slice the avocado in half, then use a large spoon to carefully remove the slices. Section off the slices and arrange them over the salad. Slice the remaining avocado into pieces, then scatter them across the salad.
- Sprinkle the green onion and leafy herbs on top of the salad after softly drizzling a spoonful of salad dressing over it. Add a little black pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes to finish by sprinkling them on top. Since the avocado will eventually turn brown, serve right away.
NOTES
Kansas City’s Corvino’s Supper Club served as inspiration for this recipe.
MAKE IT VEGAN OR DAIRY FREE: See the recipe notes for the sunshine salad dressing (this salad is dairy-free and vegan aside from the yogurt in the dressing).
NOTES ON STORAGE: Although this salad is best when eaten right away, you can toss any leftovers thoroughly to ensure the avocado is covered in dressing and keep them in the fridge for one to two days by placing them in a freezer bag with the air squeezed out.