ROASTED CARROT & AVOCADO SALAD WITH CITRUS DRESSING

Roasted Carrot & Avocado Salad With Citrus Dressing image

This recipe is slightly adapted from Jamie Oliver's "Jamie at Home" cookbook and television series. It's a bit involved, but well worth it for a delicious and different main meal salad with a fabulous mixture of interesting tastes and textures. This would be perfect to serve to visiting vegetarians - as not even the meat eaters will feel deprived. Jamie uses a mix of differently coloured carrots, but I could only get orange ones and that was fine. I did try adding in some parsnips, but I wasn't happy with that addition, and will just stick to carrots in future. For a main meal, I'd recommend 3 medium sized carrots each. Don't worry too much about the quantities - use whatever quantities you prefer - adjusting to your own taste.

Provided by Kookaburra

Time 2h10m

Yield 4 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 21

Ingredients

500 g carrots, approximately (allow 3 carrots per person for a main meal)
1 orange, halved
1 lemon, halved
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt, crushed
fresh ground black pepper
2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
1 -2 small dried chilies, crumbled or 1/2 teaspoon fresh chili pepper, minced
sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
2 -4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
4 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, picked (about 1 tablespoon of leaves)
extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 ripe avocados
4 -6 slices bread (Jamie used ciabatta, I used Turkish bread, any good quality bread will do)
mixed salad green (I just used rocket, arugala)
3/4 cup sour cream
4 tablespoons mixed seeds (I used sunflower seeds and pepitas)
extra virgin olive oil

Steps:

Don't peel the carrots.
First, make the herb and spice paste for the carrots.
In a mortar, combine the cumin seeds, chilli, salt and pepper and smash up with a pestle. Add the garlic and thyme leaves and pound until you have a paste-like consistency. Now add just enough extra virgin olive oil to cover the paste, together with 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Mix together.
Preheat oven to 180C (350F).
Cook carrots in boiling, salted water for about 10 minutes or until almost cooked - run a sharp knife into one and it should push through without too much resistance.
Drain carrots, pat dry with kitchen paper, and put into a roasting tin.
Pour the spice paste mixture over the carrots and rub in well with your hands.
Place the roasting tin in the oven and bake carrots for 30 minutes, then add the orange and lemon halves to the tin.
Bake for another 15-30 minutes until carrots are well roasted and the skins are golden brown.
(Jamie puts the fruit and the carrots in together, and roasts the lot for 30 minutes. I found this wasn't long enough to get the carrots well roasted and when I left them in longer, the orange and lemon dried out a bit - so the above method is my compromise.).
While the carrots are roasting, halve the avocados, remove the seeds, scoop out the flesh and cut into wedges.
Place avocado wedges into a large mixing bowl or salad bowl.
Heat a medium sized frying pan over a medium heat on the stove and add the seeds. Toast seeds in the frying pan, tossing frequently, until lightly browned. Remove to a small bowl until needed.
In the same pan, add a good couple of swigs of olive oil and toast your bread slices on both sides. Remove to a plate until needed.
Now, remove the roasting tin from the oven.
Using a pair of tongs, squeeze the roasted orange and lemon halves into a bowl (don't worry if some pulp falls out too).
Add an equal amount of extra virgin olive oil to the bowl along with a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, and season with some crushed sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix well.
Add the roasted carrots to the avocados in the bowl and pour over the dressing.
Now roughly tear up the toasted bread slices and add to the salad.
Add the mixed greens and toss the lot together.
Divide salad between four plates or bowls, spoon a dollop of sour cream on the top of each, sprinkle with the toasted seeds and finish with a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.