Shaved Carrot Salad with Olive Dressing and Almonds

Another dish in the Moroccan “salad” style. If you wanted to make it more of a Western style salad with lettuce, use romaine. Remove the darker outer leaves and cut the pale inner leaves across the length into thin ribbons and lay them down as a bed for the carrot ribbons. A Ben Riner or mandolin is best to make this recipe, but if you do not have one, slice the carrots on a diagonal with your sharpest knife, or use a really sturdy peeler.

INGREDIENTS:

¼ cup heaping, green olives* (Castelvetrano, Gordal, Picholine, etc.), pitted and chopped medium

2 tablespoons lemon juice, from Meyers preferably

½ teaspoon each toasted cumin seed and coriander seed, powdered

1/8^th teaspoon dried oregano, powdered with fingers

¼ cup loose packed flat-leaf parsley leaves, barely chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

4-5 tablespoons light flavored olive oil

1 pound carrots (multi-colored if you have can get them), scrubbed and dried

¼ cup roasted almonds, coarsely chopped (You could use roasted pistachios if you wish as well.)

METHOD:

Put the chopped olives, cumin, coriander, and oregano into a non-reactive bowl. Add the lemon juice and stir vigorously with a fork.

Shave the carrots into long thin ribbons, and place in a non-reactive bowl when done.

Whisk in the oil in a thin steady stream. The dressing should be a little loose, and unwilling to stay totally emulsified. Stop at 4 tablespoons and taste. Each component should be able to be tasted. If the dressing still seems a little sharp, add the last tablespoon of oil. Season with salt and pepper, then fold in the celery.

Drizzle the dressing over the carrots and toss to coat. Transfer to 4 plates (or a serving platter if using this as part of a mezze) and scatter with almonds. Serve.

Chef’s Notes: *Pretty much any olive will work as long as it is not a Mission or a martini olive stuffed with pimento. You can even use black or purple olives, although oil cured olives would be a last resort for me.

For the carrot ribbons; as mentioned, a fixed blade slicer is ideal. But some box graters are sturdy enough and have a ribbon cutter on one side. You can also use a really sturdy peeler and go for thicker strips “peeled” off the carrots, or slice thin coins or ovals with a sharp knife.

Serves: 4

Source: Chef Andrew E Cohen