Take my word for it: You need to make this salad. How about tonight? And then again for friends this weekend? This crazy-looking showstopper features carrots at their best. Caramelized roasted carrots combined with super thin rounds of raw carrots offer an intriguing, irresistible contrast of tender and crisp.
Topped with perfectly ripe avocado, fresh herbs, and a drizzle of my sunshine salad dressing, you end up with a salad that is so much greater than the sum of its parts. This salad was inspired by the carrot and avocado salad at Corvino, one of my favorite restaurants in Kansas City. If you have also had the good fortune to enjoy that salad, you are probably obsessed with it like me.
Corvino’s salad features pine nuts, black lime, various mints, and two different sauces. The end result is totally epic, and I order it every time I’m there. Their salad’s only downside is that it’s not easy to recreate at home. So, I came up with this salad. It’s not the same salad! It’s easy to make at home, though, and I am equally obsessed with it.
Salad Notes & Tips
Perfectly ripe avocado is key. Choose avocados that yield slightly to a gentle squeeze, but don’t have any mushy parts. If your avocados aren’t ripe enough yet, you can speed their ripening by storing them in a paper bag with a banana or apple for 1 to 3 days. If your avocados are just right but you aren’t making the salad the day you buy them, store them in the refrigerator to slow their ripening. Soak the raw carrot rounds in ice water. This step makes the raw carrots delightfully crisp and cold. Don’t skip this! Any fresh, leafy herbs will do. Cilantro is the least expensive, but dill, basil and mint are awesome, too. For extra-fresh flavor, use at least two different kinds. Make the salad dressing in advance. This salad calls for my sunshine salad dressing, which is a yogurt-based honey-mustard dressing. You’ll have plenty of dressing left over for green salads. It’s so good! In fact, you could also roast the carrots in advance, if you’ll be making this salad in a hurry later on.
Please let me know how you like this salad in the comments! I hope to see this beauty on Instagram (please tag it #cookieandkate so I don’t miss it). I’m also eager to hear or see what you serve this salad with. Love this salad? I think you’ll also enjoy my sunshine quinoa slaw, which features the same dressing and lots of fresh ingredients. Don’t miss this farmers’ market bowl, featuring roasted carrots and herbed yogurt sauce. Or my carrot-ginger salad dressing and colorful chopped salad that goes with it.
Make it dairy free/vegan: See the recipe notes on the sunshine salad dressing (except for the yogurt in the dressing, this salad is dairy free/vegan). Storage notes: This salad is best consumed promptly, but you can toss the leftovers well (so the avocado is coated in dressing) and store it in the refrigerator for a day or two in a freezer bag with the air squeezed out.
