Red Mountain Recipe Series -Salade de Carrotes Râpées by Anne-Marie Hedges

Carrot salad

French people love their “crudités” in the summer. That sounds like something amazing to eat but in reality, the translation in English is something like “raw vegetables.” That isn’t most people’s idea of a great meal. However, if you transform those amazing garden veggies into some delicious “good for you” dishes, they become more exciting! Today I will introduce you to my go to “salade de carrotes râpées”, sounds pretty lovely in French (that is if you can pronounce carrotes and râpées – difficult to say, but not difficult to make and very tasty to eat!

Once the garden starts producing those lovely carrots, it is time to get your peeler and food processor out, or if you want a little exercise, do the shredding by hand. Please don’t buy those already shredded carrots, for the dish to be flavorful, you need fresh from the garden organic ingredients. If you don’t have a garden, the next best place to buy would be your local farmer’s market.

Here is what you need for 4 people:

1/2 pound carrots peeled and shredded

1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon squeeze of fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoons honey

Ground sea salt – to your taste

Ground black pepper – to your taste

2 or 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoon sliced green onions

Make the French vinaigrette:

Mix together - Dijon, lemon, honey, salt and pepper

Slowly add the oil while mixing

Fold the vinaigrette, parsley and green onions in the shredded carrots

Taste to see if you need more of this or that.

Best to serve if after a couple hours, the flavors should be well married by then.

Voila!

This recipe is a basic recipe that French home cooks love to make. From this base your imagination can take over! You can make it sweeter by adding more honey or raisins. You can make it crunchier by adding pecans or walnuts. You can make it spicier with finely chopped shallots, etc… Enjoy!

Can you pair this carrot salad with wine? It is not the best match for any wine except perhaps Champagne. This is a side dish that pairs well with a light lunchor dinner, and is a nice addition to picnics!

To your health – Anne-Marie