Over my stove there is a magnet which reads: She didn’t always follow the recipe. And here’s the thing: much of the time, I don’t follow a recipe–at all. Carrot Confetti Salad which I made this past weekend is a perfect example of how I cook.
It starts like this. My eyes canvas our refrigerator and see something that needs to be used pronto; I’m in the garden and a particular edible plant catches my attention; or, I discover my inspiration while shopping at the grocery store.
Me: Hmm. We have some carrots in the fridge which really need to be used, two sweet potatoes that have been sitting idly on the counter for the past two weeks and a package of South African Boerewors sausage (with cloves, coriander and nutmeg) I picked up last week which should be eaten soon.
Then, like an intricate puzzle missing a few pieces, my mind puts together the menu: sausage, carrot salad and sweet potato fries. Carrot salad is a simple staple recipe but when I make it, there are generally a few tweaks.
For my Carrot Confetti Salad, I decided to use rainbow colored carrots: orange, red and yellow. Instead of celery, I chose fennel bulb. In place of sugar: honey. And to bind everything together, I drizzled a bit of olive oil rather than using a few spoonfuls of mayonnaise. When I realized I didn’t have enough juice left in my lemon to squeeze a few tablespoons, I got what I could out of it and then grated some of the peel. On top of that, I added lemon thyme for an additional lemony kick. Raisins? Didn’t have any but there was a bag of dried currents in the cupboard.
My hand was sore from gardening all day, so I didn’t grate the carrots as I typically do, but instead pulsed them into little bits using a small food processor, hence the confetti-like appearance of my carrot salad. Voila! Carrot Confetti Salad was colorful, delicious and paired perfectly with the rest of our meal.
The only downfall to cooking without a recipe is that duplicating my results can prove to be a challenge, for me and for others with whom I might want to share my moment of culinary brilliance. I am somehow able to divine the right amount of olive oil drizzling relative to the spoonfuls of honey and the quantity of confetti carrots, and naturally I taste as I cook which helps the results but at times leaves me with less of an appetite at dinner.
Carrot Confetti (amounts below make about 2 cups or four servings)
Ingredients
- ~ 4-5 carrots (get the colorful variety with red, yellow, purple and orange)
- 1 Fennel bulb
- 1 Spring onion (minced) or Walla Walla sweet onion
- ~1/2 cup dried currents
- 2-3 tablespoons honey
- Healthy drizzle (a few tablespoons) olive oil
- 1 Lemon (grated and juiced)
- Several sprigs of fresh lemon thyme (or any other type of thyme, preferably fresh, not dried)
How to:
Process the carrots in a food processor until they are chopped into bitsy pieces. Do the same with the fennel bulb. Mince the spring onion (spring onions have a lovely mild garlic flavor but any sweet onion will substitute just fine). Put all the chopped ingredients in a bowl and drizzle in honey and olive oil. Mix in currants and little leaves of lemon thyme.
Want to chop up more deliciousness? Check out Wanderfood Wednesday!
Wanderluster says
You really are an artist in the kitchen! This sounds like a lovely spring or summer salad variation.
Lucy says
I will try this out once I can get some beautiful carrots from the market! Great recipe.