Heirloom carrot and hazelnut salad with zesty orange vinaigrette

January 17, 2023

A delicious crunchy salad features colourful carrots, the sweet nuttiness of local hazelnuts, the creaminess of fetta and a zingy orange and sunflower oil dressing!

This salad is:

Rich in mono-unsaturated fats, protein, manganese, folate and copper
Vegetarian and can be made vegan (omit fetta or add creamy vegan cheese alternative)

For the salad you'll need:

1 large bunch of heirloom or Dutch carrots (ideally variety of colours)
1 cup of hazelnuts (roasted or raw if you like roasting them at home - 180C for ~10mins on oven tray)
small handful of finely chopped Italian parsley
optional extra (1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds)
100g creamy fetta crumbled

For the dressing you'll need:

1 large orange (zest and squeeze ~2TBSP juice required)
2 TBSP Sunflower oil
1 tsp maple syrup
1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
1 tsp finely chopped Italian parsley
fine salt and cracked pepper to taste

Method:

Wash the carrots and remove green tops (don't waste these! reserve for making carrot top pesto)
Using a peeler peel all the carrots into strips
Roughly chop the hazelnuts
Put hazelnuts, carrots and crumbled fetta into a large mixing bowl
To make dressing add all ingredients into a jar and shake until well incorporated. taste and adjust seasoning
Pour 1/2 of the dressing over the salad and fold through to ensure a good coating.
Assemble on a serving dish and sprinkle with remaining parsley and drizzle with some extra dressing to serve.

Delicious with BBQ tofu, fish or meats!