Food

Make the most of the new this season with a celebration of baby carrots

Roast Carrot salad with goats’ cheese and carrot top chimichurri

Lilly Higgins's face
Lilly Higgins
Wed Jun 21 2017 - 06:00

Bunches of new season baby carrots are so pretty in shops and at Farmers’ Market stalls. I always pick up a bunch when I see them. My sister Raedi has a master’s in organic horticulture, so I listen to her when it comes to things like this, and she always says to remove the stems from radish, carrots, beetroot and the likes as soon as possible because they sap the life and moisture from the vegetables.

So by all means do continue to buy beautiful leafy-topped vegetables but just store them separately once you bring them home. The leafy greens are chlorophyll rich and it’s a real treat when you can buy vegetables as fresh as possible. I juice radish leaves and stir fry beetroot tops with ginger. The lovely carrot tops can be gently torn and mixed in with salad leaves or made into a pesto. I’ve used a handful to make chimichurri sauce here. It echoes the sweetness of the roast baby carrots and brings a fresh green carrot flavour. This dish makes a wonderful starter that can be prepared well in advance or can be a filling main course for two. It’s a real celebration of new season baby carrots.

This salad is divine with boiled new potatoes and hot smoked salmon. We discovered this quite accidently when there were leftovers. The chimichurri sauce is fantastically versatile and can be used as a dressing or marinade. Stir it through yogurt for a fast flavoured sauce. I love new potatoes and think they are one of life’s simple pleasures with a dab of butter and flakes of sea salt. But really this chimichurri sauce is fantastic with them and would jazz up any potato salad at summer barbecues.

Roast Carrot salad with goats cheese and carrot top chimichurri

Serves 2-4

  • 1 bunch young, new season carrots
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp smoked sweet paprika
  • Salt & pepper
  • 1 large handful of carrot tops
  • 1 large clove garlic
  • 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • ½ dried chili flakes
  • 120ml olive oil
  • 200g goats cheese
  • 80g hazelnuts
  • 2 handfuls of salad leaves

Preheat the oven to 200C.

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Remove the tops from the carrots and set aside. Scrub the carrots clean under running water, no need to peel them. Place the trimmed carrots on a roasting tray. Drizzle with the honey and olive and scatter over the spices. Season with salt and black pepper. Mix well to coat the carrots. Roast for 15-20 minutes, depending on size, turning halfway through. Make sure they don’t burn, slightly caramelised on the outside is perfect. They don’t need to be soft and are much nicer when they retain a little bite.

Meanwhile, toast the hazelnuts by spreading them on a tray and roasting for five minutes. Tip them on to a clean tea towel, fold the tea towel in half and roll it on the countertop. This will remove all of the skins. Pick out the hazelnuts and discard the skins. Finely chop the nuts leaving a few chunky pieces. Roll teaspoons full of goats’ cheese in the nuts. You should get about 10. Set aside.

To make the chimichurri wash the carrot tops and remove the fine leaves from the tougher stem, as you would with parsley. Place in a food processor with the garlic, vinegar, chilli flakes, salt and pepper. Blitz till finely chopped. Spoon the mixture into a bowl then stir through the olive oil. Set aside.

Place the salad leaves on a large platter. Arrange the slightly warm carrots and goats’ cheese on top. Scatter with a few more hazelnuts and drizzle with the chimichurri sauce. Serve right away.