Salad of Radishes, Scallions, and Carrots with Tangerine Dressing

A simple salad of fresh and bracing flavors. Just right to cut through heavier cold weather fare. The light orange dressing adds sweetness that complements the flavors. A mandolin is best for making this salad, especially the Japanese Ben-Riner type with the fine comb for the carrots.

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD:

Using the stems as handles, slice the radishes really thin. (Think “business card”.)

Put the fine tooth comb in the mandolin and cut the carrots at a steep angle to produce 1½ to 2-inch shreds, or cut the carrots in coins the same as the radishes. (You should wind up with something like a  3:1 or 2:1 ratio of radish to carrot.) Toss the carrots into ice water for 5-10 minutes to firm them up a little, but not so long that they lose all their flavor to the water. Remove from the water and roll in a paper towel to dry.

Toss the carrots and radishes together in a bowl to mix well, then drizzle with enough vinaigrette to lightly coat. Toss in some scallion and toss to mix.

To serve, scatter more scallions over the salad and drizzle with a little more dressing if you wish. Pepper gently and scatter some salt crystals over all before serving.

Chef’s Notes:

If you wish, you could add batons or rounds of cucumber to the salad, or if you feel a need for lettuce, shred Romaine or tear up some Little Gem leaves and use as a bed. Blood orange juice in the dressing would make a striking color contrast. You could use a creamy orange dressing for this as well. This salad would make a nice topping for fish like tilapia or sword, and would work with thin pork chops marinated in orange juice. If you do not have a mandolin, use a sharp knife and take your time. For the carrots, you could use a peeler to take strips off the carrot and then use a knife to make thin slices along the length of the strips.

Serves: 4

Source: Chef Andrew E Cohen