Carrot Salad with Olives

Welcome to another Cookbook of the Week post.  So far, I’ve been pretty good with keeping up with my vow of highlighting a cookbook from my collection each week.

This week, I present Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes:  Recipes from a Modern Kitchen Garden  by Jeanne Kelley.

It’s a beautiful book full of healthy and appetizing recipes.   I had the occasion to meet Kelley during my brief and anticlimactic appearance at a Cooking Light cook-off in 2009.   You can read more about that Birmingham trip and the recipe here.  After the trip and meeting Kelley, I ordered her cookbook.   

I’ve made a few recipes, but the most recent one was a riff on a carrot salad.   We had company here for lunch and I needed something quick and easy with ingredients I had on hand.   (I certainly wasn’t running back to the grocery store with the hoarders!)

Carrot Salad with Olives

 on ” Carrot Salad with Green Olives and Green Onions” by Jeanne Kelley

Quick to make and pretty adaptable.

Ingredients

  • 2 T. extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 T. white vinegar
  • 1 t. grated orange zest
  • 2 t. ground coriander
  • 1 t. ground cumin
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 lb. carrots
  • 1 c. mixed herbed olives
  • 1/2 c. sliced green onions
  • 2 T. chopped Italian parsley
  • sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Instructions

  1. Whisk together vinaigrette ingredients. Set aside.
  2. Peel carrots and slice on the diagonal into 1/4″ slices.
  3. Place a medium sauce pan full of water on the stove. Add a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil. Add carrots and cook for 8 minutes until just tender. Remove and drain well.
  4. Toss carrots and vinaigrette together and set aside to cool.
  5. Before serving, toss in olives, green onions and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.

Yield: 4

Kelley’s recipe calls for lemon juice but I subbed in a white vinegar infused with chive flowers (a homemade gift from my sister).   She also calls for French green olives.  Again, I used what I had on hand which was a partial jar of herbed olives.

This book was written during the locavore trend so there’s a lot of emphasis on the home garden.  I found it refreshing to revisit this outlook.   Kelley outlines a well-stocked pantry, essential equipment and baking pans and dishes needed. 

There’s also a brief primer on starting a backyard flock (for blue eggs) and designing an edible garden (for yellow tomatoes).

The recipes use simple and good ingredients.   Kelley describes them as “keepers” and I concur.   You can see from below a couple of recipes from Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes that have found their way into our kitchen.

Rosemary-Pumpkin Soup with Pancetta

Now for something completely different….

 

I’m linking up with Novel Food

and Foodies Read.

Finally, I’m linking up with Deb’s Souper Sundays (and salads).  

 

Please stay safe and healthy (physically and mentally)!

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