Memorial Day Recipes: Grilled Carrots with Orange Dressing

This dish is delicious and great looking. I love making dishes that look attractive since we eat with our eyes first.

This is a continuation to yesterday’s post. I made the lamb burgers with this carrot salad. Since my general theme was Moroccan inspired- I looked for sides and salads to serve with the burgers. The first thing to come up was carrot salad. I looked at a bunch of recipes and came up with this one.

I used baby carrots but regular sized will do just fine too. I sliced them really thin and grilled them. I have a grill pan that I use for grilling vegetables, fish or anything that is difficult to manage on the grates. Once the carrots were golden brown but still crunchy, I added the super yummy orange dressing. I reduced some freshly squeezed orange juice and added honey, cumin, lemon juice and some herbs. It resulted in an amazing, flavorful sauce.

The great thing about this salad is that you can make it in advance since it is served at room temperature. I had everything ready in advance and all I did once company came was grill the burgers.

It was simple, convenient and a crowd pleaser- exactly the ideas you want for a fabulous long weekend- enjoy!

• 1 pound baby carrots, sliced (along the long side)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Place the carrots on a grill tray and drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper. Grill till the carrots get grill marks and begin to get soft- about 15 minutes. Take off the grill and place into a salad bowl.

Dressing

• ¾ cup fresh orange juice, reduced to ¼ cup
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Salt
• ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Mix the orange juice, lemon juice, honey, cumin, salt and cilantro in a small bowl. Drizzle the olive oil slowly, emulsifying the dressing. Pour onto the carrots and keep for at least 30 minutes before serving.