Sticky spiced honey-roast carrot and hazelnut salad with freekeh, dates and orange blossom water
Salad
Ingredients
For the carrots
300g small yellow carrots
300g small orange carrots (or 600g if you can’t find yellow carrots)
75g unsalted butter
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
1 fat pinch saffron strands, pounded
½ tsp turmeric
1 generous grating nutmeg
2 fat garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 preserved lemon, skin and flesh very finely chopped
2 tbsp clear honey
A few drops orange blossom water
For the freekeh
200g freekeh, rinsed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
60ml extra-virgin olive oil
½ lemon, juiced
60g dates, stoned and sliced (I can’t resist the ones from Zaytoun)
50g toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
Finely chopped flat-leaf parsley or chervil, to serve
Description
Dependable carrots rarely get star billing, but when roasted until caramelised with a spiced honey butter and perfumed with orange blossom water, they steal the show.
Directions
Heat the oven to 200 C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Scrape the carrots, cut them in half vertically and lay in a roasting pan. In a saucepan, melt the butter over a low heat with the ginger, cinnamon, allspice, saffron, turmeric, nutmeg, garlic and preserved lemon, stir and leave for five minutes, to infuse gently. Whisk in the honey, pour the mix all over the carrots, then cover tightly with foil and roast for 20 minutes.
Remove the foil (keep it for later) and roast uncovered for a further 10-15 minutes, until the carrots are tender and caramelised. Remove from the oven, sprinkle over a few drops of orange blossom water, re-cover with the foil and leave the carrots to steam in the perfume.
Meanwhile, dry roast the freekeh in a frying pan until toasty. Put 400ml water and a teaspoon of salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Sprinkle in the toasted freekeh, stir, bring back to a boil, then cover, turn the heat down low and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until the freekeh is tender and just about all the water has evaporated. Drain and transfer to a platter.
Mix the oil, lemon juice and seasoning, then pour the dressing over the freekeh, toss to coat and leave to cool. Once cooled, add the dates and half the hazelnuts and herbs to the freekeh platter, and toss again. Top with the carrots, scatter over the remaining herbs and hazelnuts, and serve.