Spiced Carrot Salad with Fennel & Olives

I tend to think a lot about food right before bed, probably because my mindless internet browsing of choice involves a lot of food blog scrolling. I’ll admit – it’s not a great habit. I end up having to expend a lot of will power in order to sleep on an empty stomach (which is definitely best for digestion, inflammation, disease prevention, quality of sleep…ugh, pretty much everything.) But I do sometimes get great ideas for what to make the next day!

I saw this salad from Smitten Kitchen during one of my pre-sleep food browsing sessions, and could not get the words “crushed olives” out of my head. I’ll spare you a detailed retelling of my dreams that night, but suffice it to say that the crushed olives made quite an impression on my subconscious. Anyway, I had some fennel stalks and fronds in the fridge (left over from making this lovely white gazpacho) and had been wanting to put them to good use, but – aside from the crushed olives – the rest of the salad didn’t look all that appealing to me. I’m not a fan of orange zest, and not that big on shaved fennel or fennel-centric dishes generally. I also didn’t have any fennel bulb  – just the stalks and fronds. What I did have was carrots! (You probably guessed that already.)

Now, one of my absolute favorite salads ever is Ottolenghi’s Moroccan carrot (which you can find here). So it occurred to me that I could do a sort of variation of that – but with the fronds, stalks, and olives from Smitten Kitchen’s recipe. I knew I wanted to vary up the spice mix a bit and simplify the recipe some as well. I also knew that I wanted to sauté my fronds, rather than leave them raw.

And thus, a perfect late summer/early autumn salad was born. I’m actually amazed that I got it so perfect on the very first try – measurements and all. It’s just the right amount of spice, just the right amount of tang, just the right amount of fennel (which I tend to prefer as an accent, not a centerpiece), and basically just balanced AF. The first night I made it, we ate it by itself for a late dinner.  The next day, we enjoyed it on our balcony with some barely warmed quinoa, simple sautéed chickpeas, and a cold kale and tomato dish. Yum!

A couple notes about the recipe:

-Asafoetida (or hing) is often used in Indian cooking. It has a flavor similar to onion and garlic but also quite unique (and much more concentrated). I buy this one from Pure India foods – it is AMAZING in all manner of dishes, especially Indian potato-centric ones, and I highly recommend it. If you don’t have hing, you could try just adding some onion and garlic powder. It won’t be quite the same but I think it will still be delicious.

-This salad keeps well in the fridge. Just let it stand out at room temperature for a while before serving.

-This recipe yields four cups

Spiced Carrot Salad with Fennel & Olives

• 1 ½ pounds carrots, peeled and chopped into cylinders
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
• ⅓ cup chopped scallions (green part only)
• ⅓ cup chopped fennel stalks
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt 
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon asafoetida
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• 2  teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fennel fronds
• ⅓ cup chopped parsley
• ½ cup whole cerignola olives with pits
• 1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lime juice
• Plenty of freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Place the carrots in a saucepan, cover with salted water, bring to a boil, and cook at a generous simmer until tender but not mushy. Drain. Meanwhile, mix together the spices and ¾ teaspoon of salt (reserve the remaining ¼ teaspoon).

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the fennel stalks, scallions, and ginger and cook for 5-7 minutes, until the ginger is cooked through and the stalks are tender. Add the spices and let them bloom for a few seconds in the oil; then immediately add the carrots. Let cook for a minute or so to let the flavors meld; then turn off the heat and add the white wine vinegar. Set aside to cool.

While the carrots are cooling, chop the fronds and parsley. Crush the olives with something heavy (I used a metal potato masher) and remove the pits. You will end up with ⅓ cup crushed olives. Mix the olives, fronds, and parsley together with the lime juice, remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

When the carrots are cool, toss everything together. Serve at room temperature.