Carrot and coriander seed salad

For four to six to share

This is an incredibly easy salad to prepare. All the ingredients are there to enhance the natural flavour of the carrot, so you need to have the best possible carrots: juicy, sweet and flavoursome. The type, size and shape of the carrot are secondary to the flavour, so make sure you taste a little piece of carrot before going any further.

You need

  • 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) beautiful, tasty carrots
  • a pinch of salt
  • a pinch of sugar
  • 21/2 tablespoons coriander seeds, lightly toasted, then roughly crushed
  • 1 small stalk of rosemary, leaves only
  • 1–2 large red chillies, seeded and thinly sliced lengthways
  • 60 ml (2 fl oz/1/4 cup) verjuice or mild white wine vinegar
  • 80 ml (21/2 fl oz/1/3 cup) extra virgin olive oil
  • plenty of salt and ground black pepper

Sharing Plates Cookbook

Recipe and image from Sharing Plates by Jared Ingersoll, published by Murdoch Books, photography by Alan Benson

Method

Start by preparing your carrots, which for this recipe means doing as little as possible to them. If you are using baby carrots, perhaps just gently scrape off the skin and leave them whole; if you are using great big carrots, then they may need to be peeled and cut into pieces—the decision is up to you.

Bring a saucepan of water to a rolling boil and add a good pinch of salt and the same amount of sugar, then add the carrots and cook them for the briefest time possible—they must still be wonderfully sweet and crunchy. When they are cooked to your liking, lift them out of the water and plunge into iced water to stop the cooking process. As soon as they are cool, drain, then put them in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, add the coriander seeds, rosemary, chilli, verjuice and olive oil and gently whisk to combine the flavours. Add some salt and ground black pepper and taste again. Pour the dressing over the carrots and toss them together really well, then let them sit for at least an hour. Taste them again before serving to see if you need to alter the seasoning, as the chilli will have started to come out and the verjuice will have penetrated the carrots.