24 Carrot Gold

Tonight's first course was based on the memory of a salad my mum used to occasionally pack in my school lunchbox; shredded lettuce and carrot with cheddar cheese and salted peanuts. I always loved the combination of carrots and peanuts and have tried here to recreate that particular taste sensation, though in a slightly more dinner-friendly way. I suspect that it will also make a brilliant 'side order' salad for barbecues in the summer, but that little experiment will have to wait. You'll notice no cheese is included here, though - while I admit that it would (almost certainly) be fab with some crumbled feta cheese, sadly once again I am the only one willing to travel down that road... It did in fact go down very well with all of us tonight and my dreams of lunch tomorrow were dashed by the scant leftovers.


Carrot Salad

3 large carrots
handful of raisins or sultanas
100g bag salted peanuts
fresh parsley, chopped

Peel and coarsely grate the carrots. Combine all the above ingredients in a large bowl.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic vinegar
1/4 tsp ground cumin

Whisk together, pour over the carrot salad and toss well to coat evrything in the dressing. The salad will sit happily for a bit while you get other things sorted out.

Speaking of which, we followed this salad with a Tuna Lasagne, made tonight with some leftover mixed bean salad, from the other day, in place of the peas. A successful substitution, one I was pleased with and which used up most of the remaining bean salad. I will (thankfully) be able to add that to the laughably minute serving of carrot salad to cobble together a lunch tomorrow.