I made and shared my “Foodie Gardener Marinated Mediterranean Carrot Salad” for the Home & Family Show’s Thanksgiving special last week.
Cooking from the garden is always a joy.
All I had to do was walk outside my kitchen door and head to the carrot patch for my fresh ingredients!
One of my favorite vegetable dishes is my marinated carrot salad, inspired by Mediterranean carrot salads that I’ve enjoyed at Israeli restaurants throughout the years.
After coming very close to some popular carrot salad recipes, I added a twist: Meyer lemon juice from my garden.
Foodie Gardener Marinated Carrot Salad
Garden-fresh carrots from Shirley’s garden, marinated in olive oil, garlic, cumin, paprika, Meyer lemon and special herbs!
Great counterpoint for the sweet cranberry sauce in your holiday meal.
Served warm or cold.
Ingredients
1 lb peeled Carrots cut into 1/8″ slices
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cloves of smashed garlic (if you want to remove after heating in oil), or dice to keep in salad
1/3 cup fresh Parsley chopped
1/2 – 1 teaspoon of salt to taste
1 tbsp Cumin
1 tbsp Paprika
1/4 cup fresh squeezed Meyer lemon juice (or other flavorful lemon)
1/4 cup Pine nuts
Preparation
Boil carrots in salted water until tender but not soggy (15-20 minutes)
Put carrots in cold water to stop cooking.
Drain.
In a skillet, heat oil and sauté garlic cloves for up to 4 minutes to infuse oil with garlic flavor.
Remove the garlic, or, if you prefer to keep it, that’s okay.
Add the carrots, lemon juice, parsley and spices and sauté for three minutes to mix ingredients.
Top with Pine nuts and fresh parsley sprigs.
Remove from heat and serve warm or cold.
The marinated carrot salad tastes more flavorful the next day after marinating a few hours.
Enjoy the carrots as a side dish with chicken, beef, turkey or rolled in a flour tortilla with feta cheese!
It is a bit overpowering for fish, however.
My favorite breakfast is a plate of marinated carrot salad with eggs, prepared sunny-side up, a few teaspoons of hummus, slices of cucumber and a warm pita bread!
Yum!
Do you have a favorite carrot recipe?
Take a look at my recipe for a “Quick, Single-Serve Salad Dressing Recipe by Foodie Gardener!”