Friday, August 17, 2012

Café Style Grated Carrot Salad

Simple, fresh, easy (when you have a Cuisinart....) and with ingredients 
we always have on hand.  And did we mention it tasted great ?
Per Nana ~

I can't believe I actually had all the ingredients for a French Friday
 recipe without a trip to Wegman's.    I must be doing something right. 
About a year ago I purchased a new blender.   After researching for 
about two weeks I settled on a Cuisinart combination blender with 
a mini chopper added.  I thought this would be great for small jobs. 
However, I could not figure out how to attach the mini chopper so
 I forgot about it for awhile.  

After reading all the recipes for this month I thought this would come
 in handy, especially for the basil coulis and the chopped carrots.
 Along comes hubby who just sets the chopper on top of the blender
 base and " voila"  it works. When I finally got over my frustration, 
 I was in my glory.  I grated the carrots and chopped  the walnuts and also 
mixed the salad dressing in the mini Cuisinart.  Worked beautifully. 
I'm not sure if this was the way to grate the carrots. 
My original thought was the box grater to give them a slivered look, 
but hubby insisted that was not the correct way.   (I guess I will have 
to wait and see how the other Doristas did theirs.)

To be honest I did not care for the recipe.    I'm not exactly sure why,
 but it didn't work for me.  Hubby said it wasn't too terrible. 
 That means don't bother making this again.....

Per Tricia ~
I had the treat of trying Nana's version earlier this week 
(yes, she is ALWAYS done before me....) and as she described- it
 was not something we were rushing to try again. I considered not 
even making it but since I have passed on a few dishes lately, the guilt 
 got me.   Plus, it was a simple recipe and I had the ingredients on hand.
  The best ingredient in my opinion, silly as it sounds, 
was the Cuisinart.  This is because while the salad tastes lovely,
 if my Cuisinart had not been there to prepare the carrots perfectly
 and instantly.... I am not sure I would re do this one if sweat equity 
were involved. Instead I ended up amazed that my little machine took 
a few carrots on hand and when tossed with a very simple vinaigrette
....made a dish that was basically "company worthy". Or darn special
 for a weeknight at least.  
While I will be losing many of my Dorie "taste testers"
 soon enough to college and study abroad, I enjoyed having all forks 
on deck tonight -and even a visiting friend. We all grabbed forks and 
tested the platter accordingly- savoring the company, the experience
 AND the carrot salad.  Everyone gave it a hearty thumbs up !

Happy French Friday !

P.S. - I sent a sample over to Nana and she gave it two thumbs up.
 It was all in the cut of the carrot, though my "Savannah Bee Co"
  honey worked wonders too :)

P.P.S. - We are headed back to France.  Nana and I booked a trip
 in late October. Paris and the Loire Valley.  Ooh la la !!

9 comments:

  1. Nana, I had to laugh when you wrote that your husband said the salad was not that bad…not exactly a sterling endorsement…he sounds like my husband!
    Both your salads looks lovely…Tricia, so nice to have everyone there to have a taste! I agree with you I thought it was delicious and even my hubby liked it!
    Save travels to you both….have a marvelous time!!

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  2. This was not the top of my list either :-( Thank goodness for tools to make the job easier...
    Tricia - we take Runner Girl to college tomorrow. She is my more adventurous eater. I guess I have to start figuring out how to halve recipes for the time being...

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  3. Cute post! Kudos for making this salad. I wasn't even going to try it knowing that I wouldn't eat it.

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  4. Nana and Tricia . both your salads look delicious! Love both presentations and, yes, the Cuisinart can be very helpful!

    So wonderful to read that you are headed for France in October!

    P.S.: I will let you know about the Zucchini Chutney recipe, need to translate it first.

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  5. I so agree, a food processor makes all the difference with these types of recipes. Mine shredded up those carrots in under a minute and made this recipe a breeze.

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  6. Oh yay - lucky you tow going back to France!
    I liked this even though it was a bit labour intensive - actually prefer the look of the carrots grated as opposed to "grated" using the food processor. Traditionally they stands are longer than a food processor can give you. You'll have to try some in France ;)

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  7. I laughed at the fact that you ladies talked more about your helpful gadgets than the salad! But I feel the same way about my favorite little appliances. Very nice salad you have here. It´s a simple recipe but better than expected. Have a great week and a fabulous trip!

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  8. Nana: I just wanted to let you know that I added the recipe for the "Zucchini Chutney" to my "Grated Carrot Salad" blog post - you mentioned that you wanted to know when I would be posting it.

    Have a great Monday!

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  9. Wasn't my favorite either, though it was OK. I used the fine grating blade on my Cuisinart and it was a snap.

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