This Citrus Roast Carrot, Parsnip Salad with Seeds & Yogurt was inspired by what seems to be a bit of a theme for me at the moment – wastage avoidance. I always seem to get a little carried away when I visit the market, most probably because I become overwhelmed by all of the incredible fresh produce, the colours, the smells, the good pricing, and supporting local growers. This salad probably suits the “winter salad category” as it’s hearty, warming, and comforting, but was still met with a series of “yums and delicious” during dinner on a warm, summers evening.
I served this up with a butterflied lamb leg and some home made potato wedges courtesy of my fabulous sister and it was a killer dinner.
This salad is loaded with fresh organic carrots, parsnip (carrot and parsnip go so well together, have you tried carrot and parsnip mash? it is soo good). Mixed mesculin, toasted seeds and nuts, avocado, and crunchy ciabatta pieces. The added crunch from the toasted ciabatta really works wonders with the texture of the roast vegetables, and really who doesn’t like salty, crunchy croutons!
You might see that for the dressing I bake the orange and lemon, please make sure you do this, it brings out so much more of the citrus flavours, and you get a lot more of the juice from the fruit. I love this dressing and it is pretty versatile too, it has a real freshness to it, and works well with roasted vegetables of any kind.
An absolute must to this salad is the big dollops of creamy greek yogurt applied just prior to serving, sometimes I dollop it all over, and serve in the baking tray like I did for my sister and her boyfriend and the million mosquito’s that joined us that evening, or you could pop it into a cute ceramic dish and your guests can help themselves. In hindsight I think I would pop it into a cute dish because I found myself selfishly scooping all the bits off that had the most yogurt because its so-damn-good.
Puhoi Valley have nailed it with this yogurt. It is magic.
This salad is great for the next day, or even making a big batch for the weeks lunches. If you plan on eating it the subsequent days, make sure you leave some croutons out to pop on when you are ready to eat, as if you leave them in the salad they will lose their crunch! The citrus dressing seems to keep the avocado in it’s prime too which is a bonus. This salad is fun to make and really delicious, I hope you enjoy it, don’t forgot the yogurt!
- Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 30 minutes Serves 4-6
- For the salad:
- 4 carrots washed and cut into thirds
- 3 parsnip washed and cut into thirds
- 4 golden or purple baby beetroot halved or quartered
- 2 handfuls of mixed mesculin, washed
- 2 avocado halved, stoned and sliced
- ¼ cup lightly toasted pumpkin seeds
- ¼ cup lightly toasted sunflower seeds
- 2 ciabatta loaves cut into 2cm slices and baked
- 200 grams puhoi valley natural greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon turmeric powder
- 1 tablespoon chilli flakes
- 1 knob of garlic
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Himalayan salt and cracked pepper
- for the dressing:
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Himalayan salt and cracked pepper
- Red wine vinegar
- 1 orange
- 1 lemon
- Pre-heat oven to 200°C and line a large baking dish and baking tray with paper.
- Bring a pot of salted water to the boil, rinse carrots, parsnip and beetroot, cut carrots and parsnip lengthways, then into thirds, cut beetroot into quarters.
- Place vegetables into boiling water and let cook for 10 minutes to soften vegetables.
- Whilst cooking, in a mortar and pestle crush cumin seeds, turmeric, chilli, garlic, ¼ cup olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper until it forms a paste, add a good splash of red wine vinegar.
- Cut the orange and lemon into halves and place into the baking tray flesh side down. Remove vegetables from the pot, drain and place into a baking dish with the orange and lemon halves, massage paste into the vegetables and bake for 30 minutes or until cooked, but with a bit of crunch.
- When there is 10-15 minutes cooking time remaining, drizzle olive oil onto your ciabatta slices and sprinkle with a generous amount of salt. Bake until crunchy.
- Lightly toast sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds in a dry pan until golden, set aside.
- Remove vegetables and ciabatta from the oven, using tongs as they will be hot, squeeze the juice from the lemon and orange into a dressing bow, season, and add ¼ cup olive oil and 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, whisk to combine.
- Prepare avocado, cut into slices and add to vegetables, pour dressing over the cooked vegetables, add toasted seeds and mesculin, toss well.
- Add toasted ciabatta and roughly toss through, dollop Puhoi valley greek yogurt over the salad,or pop t into a bowl on the side, and serve!
