Za'atar-roasted carrots with kale, freekeh & blood-orange maple dressing

October 20, 2016

Cindy and I wanted a substantial salad to accompany a few bits and pieces that we had to finish off in the fridge. I turned to Community, deciding that this mix of carrots, kale and freekeh would do the trick. It's certainly substantial: a kilo of carrots plus the kale and freekeh meant that we were eating this over about 6 meals. So it was lucky that it was so good - the dressing (we subbed in orange and grapefruit for the blood orange) was sweet and tangy, but the salad was delicious enough even without it. It's tempting to skip the hazelnut roasting and crushing, but they crunch they add was definitely worth the effort.

We haven't had anything disappointing from Community and this continued our run - a reasonably simple salad with a nice mix of flavours that tastes just as good as leftovers a day or two later.

Za'atar-roasted carrots with kale, freekeh and blood-orange maple dressing
(adapted from a recipe in Hetty McKinnon's Community)

salad
~1kg of carrots, sliced into 5-8cm chunks
1 red onion, finely sliced
1 tablespoon za'atar
Juice of 1 small lemon
1 cup freekeh grains, rinsed
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 bunch kale, stemmed and roughly chopped
1 small bunch parsley, chopped
1/2 cup hazelnuts, roasted, skinned and roughly crushed
4 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper

dressing
Juice of 1 orange and 1 grapefruit (or 2 blood oranges if you can find them)
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Small bunch of dill, finely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 220°C.

Lay out the carrot pieces in a couple of baking trays, drizzle over three-quarters of the oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Pop them in the oven to roast.

Add the onion to the oven trays after about 15 minutes and return to the oven for another 15 minutes. Take the carrots out and pour over the lemon juice and sprinkle on the za'atar.

Cook the freekeh as per instructions. 

Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan and add the garlic and kale, season with heaps of salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes until the leaves have wilted nicely.

Whisk together all the dressing ingredients, adjusting the seasoning to taste.

Stir together the freekeh, carrots and kale, plus half the parsley. Serve with a splash of the dressing and a garnish of parsley and hazelnuts, plus some more za'atar if you want it.