This chopped carrot citrus salad has roasted rainbow carrots, blood oranges and Meyer lemons tossed in a citrus mustard vinaigrette to showcase the best of winter produce.
It’s February in two days and as I walking around the grocery store I realized I hadn’t bought a single blood orange all season yet.
Moderation not really being in my grocery shopping vocabulary when it comes to fun ingredients, 10 of them went in my cart along with the prettiest pack of organic rainbow carrots for $2. Yes, $2.
I think some poor high school employee probably got an earful for that mis-marking.
For the past couple of months, I’ve gotten the chance to play around with some Crisp™ kitchen tools.
They make a bunch of fruit and vegetable gadgets that make eating healthy fun and the preparation possibilities endless.
My absolute favorite though is the 4 in 1 zester. You know those fun zest strips? Yeah, I’ve always wanted to make them but refused to buy a gadget just for that.
This zester lets you make the strips, the traditional zest and even has a knife blade for scoring citrus so there’s no need for any other zester taking up residence in that packed gadget drawer we all have.
I also used the lettuce knife to finely chop some green leaf lettuce for this salad. It may be called a lettuce knife but it definitely works on more than just lettuce, I’ve used it on strawberries, mushrooms and a bunch of other greens too.
Those two gadgets made assembling this chopped carrot citrus salad a breeze.
The sweet flavor of roasted carrots combines with lemon, orange, parsley and mint to make this baby one of the few highlights in an otherwise wasteland of a season when it comes to fresh produce.
Each bite in this chopped carrot citrus salad is fresh, vibrant and still hearty from the roasted carrots.
Crisp makes over 27 kitchen tools but these are some of my favorites I’ve gotten to try out recently.
The wavy knife is a super fun way to make restaurant looking potato or vegetable chips and the avocado tool makes quick work of the scooping and slicing mess that usually goes down with those.
Looking for more great salads to try?
Radicchio Endive Fennel Salad with Tangy Dijon Herb Dressing
Yogurt Tahini Mediterranean Carrot Salad
Pickled Fennel Citrus Salad
Chopped Carrot Citrus Salad
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- 6 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks (use rainbow carrots if you can find them for color)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- salt & pepper
- juice from 1/2 a Meyer lemon
- 2 cups chopped green leaf lettuce
- 2 blood oranges, cut into segments
- 1/2 Meyer lemon, cut into segments
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
For the Dressing
- juice of 1 blood orange
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 tablespoons citrus rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar is a good substitution
- 1 tablespoon blood orange zest
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with foil. Add the carrots to the middle of the foil. Drizzle with the olive oil, season with salt and pepper and squeeze the lemon juice on top. Toss to combine then fold the foil and pinch closed. Roast for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, open the foil carefully and set aside to cool.
- Add the lettuce, orange and lemon segments, parsley and mint to a large bowl.
- Once carrots have cooled off, add them to the bowl as well.
- Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing together in a small bowl.
- Pour the dressing onto the salad and toss to combine.
- Plate the salad and garnish with additional orange zest strips.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
*This post is sponsored by Crisp Cooking. All content and opinions are my own.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
Could you add chicken to the salad so that it has a protein or would that taste bad?
Sure, I don’t think it would taste bad.
This salad is so gorgeous! And those kitchen tools, I’m lusting!!