Carrot and Coriander Salad

For Mother's Day my sister Mo gave me A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes by David Tanis.

Tanis works for six months out of the year as head chef at Chez Panisse. He spends the rest of the year in Paris, where he hosts a private dining club.

Lucky dog! He's living at least part of my fantasy life.

The book is gorgeous, and immediately I want to try every recipe. They all seem to be my kind of cooking: seasonal, family-style, simple, and stunningly beautiful.

These are the kind of recipes that will impress your friends and family, but won't keep you away from your friends and family for too long. What pleases me is that I already have all the ingredients I need to make at least a couple of them.

I dive into the recipe for "Carrot and Coriander Salad" straightaway. Tanis is correct when he advises you to use a mandoline or a Benriner to julienne your carrots.

Turns out my Benriner is dull, and thus far too dangerous to use. I make a half-recipe and, given my knife skills are not what they ought to be, it takes me almost 30 minutes to julienne one pound of smallish carrots.

(Ssh. Don't tell anyone. I'm embarrassed!)

After the carrots have been tackled, everything else is a cinch.

You add lots of citrus, plus toasted cumin, coriander, garlic and shallots. Combine that with chopped fresh cilantro and a small blast of heat, and you have a bracing Moroccan salad that is actually good for you. (Figured it was time for something like this, after the carbonara and pot roast!)

Tanis garnishes the salad with green olives. I think this is fine, but not strictly necessary. He sprinkles the cilantro on top, and I mixed mine in. I think you can go either way. I do like and will definitely try his suggestion for a spicier version, adding slivered red onions and jalapeño chiles.

David Tanis' halibut with Indian spices and chilled pink borscht coming soon!

Carrot and Coriander Salad

2 pounds carrots, peeled

salt and pepper

1 large shallot, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, smashed to a paste with a little salt

2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground

2 teaspoons coriander seeds, toasted and ground (You can toast and grind the spices together.)

red pepper flakes or cayenne (I used red pepper flakes.)

juice of 1 to 2 lemons

olive oil

limes

good green olives, such Picholine or Lucques (not pitted)

1 bunch cilantro

Julienne the carrots into long slivers, put them in a large bowl, sprinkle lightly with salt, and toss. Add the shallot, garlic, cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes, and lemon juice. Toss well, and let soften a bit.

Add olive oil to coat, then adjust the seasoning with lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and red pepper. Cover and set aside at cool room temperature for up to several hours, or refrigerate and then return to room temperature to serve.

Toss the salad again to distribute the seasoning, and heap on a large platter.

Squeeze a little fresh lime juice over, and garish with green olives. Roughly chop some cilantro and scatter it over the salad. Strew sprigs of cilantro and lime wedges around the salad, if you like.

Moroccan Chicken with Carrot Purée

What fun to receive the Los Angeles Issue of Saveur Magazine!

I love reading about my city. I love movies that take place in my city. It is always a treat to uncover more about the city I live in than I already know. The latest Saveur was no exception. Jonathan Gold's piece does a nice job of summarizing the importance of Los Angeles to the food world.

So far I've only prepared one recipe from that issue: Suzanne Goin's Moroccan Chicken with Carrot Purée.

Goin is just so amazing. Her Sunday Suppers at Lucques: Seasonal Recipes from Market to Table is an outstanding –– albeit very labor intensive –– cook book. She has an uncanny ability to make a complete and perfect meal using beautiful ingredients from local farmers.

I stumbled upon this recipe and knew that I could pull it off, and hopefully entice my poultry-phobic husband to partake. My C.S.A. share has provided me with a lot of Chiccoria, otherwise know as dandelion greens, and plenty of carrots, so my shopping would be limited (thank god!).

The sweet, mild carrot purée is a lovely foil for the sharper bite of the dandelion greens and sliced shallots, which join the salty kick of oil-cured olives in the little salad. The harissa that cloaks the chicken is also echoed in the dressing for the dandelion green salad.

I'm glad she asks for sherry vinegar in the vinaigrette. I love it, and always forget that I should be using the bottle hiding in my pantry.

I don't have a grill pan, so I used my trusty iron skillet to sear the chicken. No lovely black lines, but certainly just as tasty.

The real surprise for me here was the orange sauce, consisting of orange juice, butter, and orange segments. The buttery-sweetness of this sauce brings all of the forceful flavors of harissa, shallots, olives, and dandelion greens together.

Not only is this sauce delicious on this dish, but it clearly belongs in a dessert crèpe as well.

I was thrilled by how visually beautiful this dish is, and by how well all the parts came together. My husband ate the whole thing, but somehow he still cannot mentally get past the fact that he is eating poultry. I will keep at it!

Moroccan Chicken with Carrot Purée

6 boneless skin-on chicken breasts, pounded 3/4" thick (Place them in a ziplock bag for the pounding to reduce the mess!)

16 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

4 cups chicken broth

2 pounds carrots, cut into 1/2" rounds

1 large onion, minced

1 1/2 cups fresh orange juice

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 peeled oranges, segmented

3/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons harissa

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar

3 ounces dandelion greens

3/4 cup pitted oil-cured black olives, roughly chopped

2 shallots, thinly sliced

Put chicken into a dish; drizzle with 3 tablepspoons oil; season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Bring broth to a boil in a 6-quart pan. Add carrots; cook for 6-8 minutes. Purée in a food processor with 2 tablespoons oil. Season with salt and pepper; keep warm.

Heat orange juice in a 2 quart pan. Cook until reduced by half, 12-15 minutes. Whisk in butter; season with salt and pepper. Add orange segments; set sauce aside.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Working in 3 batches, add chicken, skin side down; cook until crisp, 8-10 minutes. Transfer chicken, skin side up, to a baking sheet. Brush with 3/4 cup harissa. Bake until cooked, 6-8 minutes.

In a bowl, whisk together remaining oil and harissa with sherry vinegar. Add greens, olives, and shallots; toss. Divide carrot purée between 6 plates; top each with salad and a chicken breast. Spoon sauce over each.

Serves 6

More CSA Bounty... Carrots Redux

I've forgotten about carrots for years now.

I haven't considered the carrot as a worthy vegetable in its own right since the days when I worked in a restaurant kitchen in Santa Cruz, California.

Back then, at Oswald, we served roasted carrots with roast pork and fig jam, alongside garlic mashed potatoes. That was back in the '90s. The garlic mashed potatoes were probably a dead giveaway. Don't they just seem so old school?

Lately carrots are making a big comeback for me.

They've been showing up with quite a bit of regularity in our CSA bag, and I'm remembering that they don't have to be relegated to the stock pot. I've been cooking them up with a little butter and chopped shallots for Fe, and they are a hit.

Though what's really got me excited is the Carrot Salad with Cumin and Garlic recipe from Claudia Roden's Arabesque.

This is definitely one of the easiest recipes in the book. It takes no time at all. There really isn't much to it, but somehow it heats up your relationship with carrots all over again. Plus it pleases the whole family. Fe is a fan.

Carrot Salad with Cumin and Garlic

5 large carrots (about 1 1/4 pounds)

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 teaspoon ground cumin

salt and black pepper

juice of 1/2 a lemon

Peel the carrots and trim the ends. Cut them in half or thirds crosswise and cut each section into quarters to produce sticks. Boil in salted water for 8 to 10 minutes until tender, but not mushy.

In a large saute pan, heat the oil and add the carrots, garlic, cumin, and salt and pepper to taste. Saute on medium heat, stirring or shaking and flipping, until the garlic just begins to color. Toss with the lemon juice and serve cold.