Carrot Salad with Harissa, Feta, and Mint

This week’s CSA box contained, among other things, a whole boatload of carrots. Not being a huge fan of them, I was at a bit of a loss for what to do with the pound and a half of the orange roots buried deep in the box, under mountains of kale and bok choi.

Carrots. So many carrots.

I dedicated a couple days to hunting down a recipe for something to do with ’em all, but turned up more or less empty handed. It was only when I’d given up and was looking for another recipe on the fabulous blog Smitten Kitchen that I accidentally stumbled across this one. I’m a sucker for anything with exotic spices, mint, and (obviously) cheese, so finding something that wrapped up all these ingredients into one easy, healthy package was definitely a win.

This salad recipe calls for several spices- some relatively common, some more off the beaten path. Cumin, paprika, and (for some) caraway should be staples in most kitchens, but the chances you’ll have a bottle of harissa hanging out in your pantry are probably more slim. Although this North African staple’s main ingredient is ground chilies, the spice blend also gets its flavor from various combinations of cumin, coriander, caraway, garlic, red pepper, mint, and lemon juice. A quick google-ing yields more than a couple recipes for a homemade versions of this “chili powder” (I love Saveur magazine and would trust theirs the most),  I was in a bit of a time crunch so just bought my harissa at Whole Foods. All I could find on their shelves was a “harissa rub,” but except for the addition of salt, this seemed to be more or less equivalent to the standard formulations of the spice.

Whole Foods harissa (rub)

The most important step in this recipe is also the one that seems the most pointless/tedious/superfluous: toasting the spices in oil. I’m right there with ya–why would you possibly want to dirty yet another pan just for the sake of heating up some powdered nuts and berries for a couple minutes? Because you like your food to be flavorful- that’s why. Although the toasting step seems a bit frou frou, heating spices before using them is absolutely key to ensuring they’re as complexly flavored and aromatic as they’re supposed to be. Most commercially bought spices and seasonings have been sitting on a shelf (either yours, the grocery store’s, or both) for quite a while–heating them up releases their oils and exponentially increases their tastiness–and thus the deliciousness of whatever you’re making. So don’t skip the toast, people!

Spices, ready to get their toast on.

Without further ado, Carrot Salad with Harissa, Feta, and Mint

Note: I adjusted the originally posted recipe (which was in itself an adaptation) to suit our tastes (and supplies on hand).

Serves 4 as a salad or 2 who really love carrots and want an entirely orange entree.

1 pound carrots
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika (I used sweet; in the future I’d use smoked Spanish paprika instead)
1 teaspoon harissa (adjust quantity according to how spicy of a salad you’d like)
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, torn
1/4 to 1/3 cup fresh feta, crumbled

What to do:

Peel, trim, and grate the carrots. Watch your fingers; I grated off almost all the nail polish on my thumb. Set the grated carrots/nail polish aside.

Next, mince the garlic then add it to a small saute pan along with the cumin, paprika, harissa, sugar, and oil. Heat this mixture until it’s very fragment–about one or two minutes. Remove from heat, then add the lemon juice and, if you were able to find honest-to-goodness harissa (and not the rub like I used), a pinch of salt. If you also couldn’t find the real thing, the rub is already salted so unless you have really low blood pressure or have just run a marathon and are desperately in need of electrolytes, don’t add any more. Pour the lemon juice/oil/toasted spice sauce over the carrots and toss until it’s evenly distributed. Add the mint, make sure everything is really well mixed together, then let the salad rest for one hour.

Carrot salad: she’s a beaut.

Add the feta to the spiced carrots and mint just before serving, then go to town on your creation. Yum. FYI: this is one of those dishes that gets better with time- the leftovers we had the next day were almost better than the freshly-made recipe itself.

Enjoy!