This Simple Carrot Salad Is the Perfect Summer Side Dish
Despite its quirky reputation, much of French cuisine is shockingly simple and even underestimated, which can make it so difficult to master. Oil aside, there is nothing to hide behind and many French dishes depend on good ingredients and good technique. Take this simple grated carrot salad or «Salade de carottes râpées» – eg.
There are tons of recipes for this dish on the Internet (my favorite is David Lebowitz’s ), but they all contain the same basic ingredients: carrots, olive oil, lemon, herbs (usually parsley) and maybe some dijon. Mix it all together and you have a salad that goes well with any grilled fish, grilled piece of meat, or a simple sandwich. It’s the perfect summer side dish, and its success depends on whether you take the time to grate the carrots yourself.
It’s tedious, but not that hard, and well worth it. The pre-shredded carrots are too dry for this salad – the dressing slips off the small waxy clumps right away. You want the carrots to be finely grated so that the simple lemon vinaigrette has something to cling to. A box grater, a rotary grater, or a food processor grater all do their job in a short time, although I used a hand saw to clean the julienne and it worked great too. (If you don’t like the carrot strands in julienne, cut them with kitchen scissors.)
After the carrots are chopped, you just have to choose the acid and herbs. Lemon and parsley are traditional, but you can add some sherry, white wine or apple cider vinegar, and add garlic and tarragon. I try to stick to the Lebowitz recipe template, but I often increase the amount of acid to match the oil. Most of the recipes tell you you can make this salad “in 24 hours,” but I’ve got some in the fridge since Friday night and it’s still pretty crunchy.
French Carrot Salad (adapted from DavidLebovitz.com )
- 1 lb. carrots (try purple for extra visual arousal)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (or a mixture of lemon juice and sherry vinegar)
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon + large pinch of white table sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (or a mixture of parsley, tarragon, and garlic)
Chop the carrots finely and transfer to a large bowl. Add everything other than herbs to a small jar or other container with a lid , then shake until emulsified. Add the dressing to the carrots in small chunks until they are “shiny” but melt in the dressing. Add herbs and stir again. Let it hang on the counter for at least an hour or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Just remember to take it out about half an hour before serving. This salad is best served at room temperature along with a freshly grilled and charred piece of meat or fish.