Salad of Radish and Carrot Coins with Arugula and Balsamic Dressing

This is a light refreshing salad with a peppery quality that could easily double as a topping or side for something like seared pork chops or duck breasts. You want to use pinky-thin sweet carrots for this, and they should be sliced really thinly-a mandolin would be ideal. The carrots are there to offer a sweet contrast to the other vegetables. If you don’t have skinny sweet carrots, skip them and use pine nuts or almonds instead.

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch radishes, trimmed and washed, sliced into coins around 1/16^th inch

4-5 pinky-thin sweet carrots, scrubbed and sliced into coins 1/16^th inch*

1 bunch arugula, stems removed, washed and dried

½ cup Light Balsamic Dressing or Balsamic Vinaigrette (see recipes on site) or less as needed

1 cup micro-greens/sprouts such as New Natives or the ones from Trader Joe’s in the flat plastic tub

Options:

Scant ½ cup toasted pine nuts or roasted and chopped almonds

Heaping ¼ cup finely diced candied ginger

METHOD:

Toss the radishes and carrots with a little (around a tablespoon) dressing and toss to coat. Remove 1/3^rd of the radish-carrot mixture and reserve.

Add the arugula to the bowl with the remaining vegetables. Add just enough dressing to barely moisten the lot. If using nuts and/or ginger, add it now. Gently toss to combine. Add half the sprouts and gently turn with your fingers to combine.

Place the dressed salad onto plates or whatever you might be garnishing the salad with.

Scatter the rest of the radish-carrot mixture on the salads, then top with little puffs of sprouts. Season with salt and pepper and serve right away.

Chef’s Notes: *If you do not have skinny and/or sweet carrots, skip them altogether. They will just add an unwelcome bitter or mineral-y note that would be unwelcome here. To be honest, the salad is fine with just the arugula and radishes, but the sprouts and nuts do add quite a lot. The carrots tone down the peppery notes and add a nice dash of color, but they are easily left out flavor-wise. Use this as a salad course, cheese accompaniment, topping for protein, or even on bruschetta as a starter.

Serves: 4

Source: Chef Andrew E Cohen