April 5, 2007
Carottes Rapées à l'Avocat
[Grated Carrot Salad with Avocado]
As subscribers to the Chocolate & Zucchini newsletter already know, a French publisher has purchased the rights to my very-soon-to-be-published cookbook. And because the tone of writing is very personal, I've asked to translate my own words: the recipes themselves are taken care of by a pro, while I translate -- and often rewrite -- the stories that accompany them and structure the book.
I'm fortunate that my father is now a seasoned translator with plenty of tips to share, but this still represents roughly a month of full-time work, and since my publisher is shooting for a release in the fall, I have not an hour to squander.
So my workdays have been unusually intense for the past few weeks -- did I mention that the delivery date of my second book is also looming closer by the minute? -- and I've been sitting at my desk from breakfast till dinner with nary a break. I am not at all complaining, mind you: my desk is comfortable and I am enjoying the stimulating translation work, even if it is causing the seat of language in my brain to wobble a bit.
No. The reason why I'm telling you this is to explain how I've come to depend on quick, tasty, and nutritious salads for my lunches. And in particular, I'm afraid I've developed an addiction to this carrot and avocado salad, which appears on my menu more frequently than I'd be willing to admit in a court of law.
What can I say? The preparation is effortless (especially if you have a food processor with a grater attachment), you can make a couple of servings at a time and let the second one sit in the fridge until lunch the next day when it will taste even better, and it is so brightly flavored and satisfying that I have to reason with myself not to eat this at every. single. meal, lest I turn into a carrot. Or an avocado, I'm not sure which is worse.
In my defense, I never make this salad in exactly the same way: I use either lemon or orange juice, I throw in fresh herbs -- especially cilantro -- and shallots if I have them on hand, I use tofu or chicken or a soft-boiled egg depending on what the fridge has to offer, and on a couple of rejoicing occasions I've folded sprouted mustard seeds into the salad. But the basic structure, give or take the occasional riff, is outlined below.
Carottes Rapées à l'Avocat
- One small ripe avocado, about 150 grams (5 1/3 ounces), diced
- The juice of a lemon or an orange
- A dash of balsamic vinegar or oxymel
- Fine sea salt, freshly ground pepper
- Tabasco sauce or similar (I use Bayou Red) or strong mustard, to taste
- 4 medium carrots, about 450 grams (1 pound) total, peeled and grated
- 250 grams (9 ounces) firm tofu or cooked chicken, diced
- Toasted seeds -- sunflower, sesame, flax, or a mix thereof
Serves 2.
Combine the avocado, lemon juice, and balsamic vinegar in a medium salad bowl, and mash the avocado roughly with a fork. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce. Fold in the carrots and tofu, and stir until well combined. Cover and refrigerate for half an hour or up to a day. Toss again before serving, adjust the seasoning, and sprinkle with liberal amounts of toasted seeds.
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More Recipes Like This One:
~ Grated Carrots and Beets
~ Carrot and Rosemary Miniature Scones
~ Carrot and Peanut Muffins
~ Avocado and Radish Canapés with Smoked Salt
~ Beef Stew with Root Vegetables
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Comments (44)
Permalink | Posted by clotilde in Recipe Inside! - Vegetables
hmmm, bonne idée cette salade! je note!
Posted by leonine19 on April 5, 2007 8:17 PMexcellente idée!!
Posted by mimosa on April 5, 2007 8:22 PMThis looks great! I love grated carrot salad, it is my favorite way to eat carrots I think and I love your addition of avocado. I have made similar salads with curry powder and a bit of light yogourt.
Posted by Katerina on April 5, 2007 8:33 PMThanks for posting this Clotilde. These sorts of recipes are just fantastic when you're busy! It also sounds ideal for a lunchbox to take to work. I nearly always have to make my lunch the night before so I was just wondering aloud if the avocado would stay green for a few hours or overnight with the lemon or orange juice in there. Have you tried making this in advance at all? Good luck with the deadlines!
Posted by Sophie on April 5, 2007 8:35 PMThanks for another nice lunch idea for someone (i.e. me) who is dead tired of sandwiches! I don't think you need to worry about turning into a carrot though - I must confess to having developed an addiction to carottes rapees during my first stay in France and I can assure you my appearance never became remotely carrot-like. I can't vouch for avocados, though... ;)
Posted by Rachel on April 5, 2007 9:05 PMI can't wait for your book to be released - looking forward to it! Your website is my homepage and even if I don't have time to read what is offered, I enjoy the colorful and delicious photos you post! Thank you.
Posted by Kara on April 5, 2007 9:29 PMExcellente idée.
Posted by mamina on April 5, 2007 9:39 PMVery nice! I love avocado but usually have it with tuna, or tomatoes and cilantro. Next time I'll try the avocado and carrot combination. Good luck for all your work! and congrats on the deal with marabout
Posted by est on April 5, 2007 10:15 PMPas de moutarde? I'm so surprised. One of the things that I eat first and often when I get to France is carrot salad, and it's partially because of the way the mustard in France makes it taste. Even when I buy Maille or Amora here in the U.S., it's not the same because the ingredients aren't identical (I checked the labels). Sigh. In any case, the idea of carrots used as a base for a salade composée is a great one. Congratulations on the book! Translating is a very daunting task and I'm sure that it's practically impossible to not re-write one's own sentences and make additions and changes due to not only the passage of time (you may have decided on a different way of preparing something since you last looked at a recipe), but also the fact that the change of intended reader, anglophone to francophone, is also quite a big one.
Posted by Mary on April 5, 2007 10:23 PMBravo pour cette excellente nouvelle et tout mon soutien pour la dernière ligne droite !
Posted by Ester on April 5, 2007 10:44 PMOops, sorry, you did actually say that you'd tried making it the day before. Lunch it is then!
Posted by Sophie on April 5, 2007 11:28 PMWhat a great and simple salad, I'll definitely have to try it. Adding tofu sounds delicious. Good luck with wrapping up your first book, I can't wait to buy it!
Posted by Dianka on April 6, 2007 12:51 AMI love the idea of the salad. I can already taste the fresh carrot against the creamy avocado flesh. Yum!
Posted by kate on April 6, 2007 2:36 AMI love carrot salad. I didn't have it in a long time but I do crave it. Good luck with all your work, I'm sure it will be wonderful as your writing style is so effortless and pleasant to read. Can't wait to purchase your book.
Posted by Monika Korngut on April 6, 2007 5:37 AMI just came across this recipe this afternoon, it was posted on a different website. It sounds great and I will try it tommorow night. Any idea how long the salad will last.
Posted by Steve34 on April 6, 2007 9:07 AMMmmh, ça a l'air délicieux ! Et l'ajout des graines (tournesol, sésame, lin : tout ce que j'aime !) est une idée géniale !
Posted by Celine75 on April 6, 2007 11:47 AMChouette chouette et rechouette pour la version française (j'hésitais entre la version US et la version Uk mais par paresse j'attendrais quelques mois supplémentaires la version française)!!! Et en attendant bon courage!
Posted by Aude on April 6, 2007 11:51 AMIt's easy to see why you vary this lovely recipe each time. Carrots are so versatile and are complimented by so many different herbs. I just adore them.
Posted by Susan from Food "Blogga" on April 6, 2007 7:57 PMOoooh. Time for lunch. And wouldn't you know it? I have carrots, avocado, lemons and tofu at the ready. I've also been sitting in my chair in front of the computer since breakfast, and my chair is not nearly as comfortable...
Posted by Bad Home Cook on April 6, 2007 9:08 PMYour book is coming out soon, no? Can't wait to buy a copy!
The only thing that salad needs to be carrot-in-guacamole is a bit of very finely shredded onion. No wonder it's great.
:)
Posted by Scorpio on April 6, 2007 10:43 PMI happened to have all the ingredients at home and had this for dinner tonight. I threw in some dill and shallots as well. It was so tasty and beautiful too! Thanks for the recipe.
Posted by Karen on April 7, 2007 4:02 AMIs shredded carrot a recent addition-say in the last 10 years or so-to the French diet? I ask because an American friend of mine added it to a salad for her French husband and he insulted her use of it saying it was never used on salads. Would it surprise you to learn that he ended up wearing the salad?
Posted by Linda Mathieu on April 7, 2007 5:55 PMI am a living witness to the fact that shredded carrot has been part of the French diet for at least a handful of decades.
Posted by Your papounet on April 7, 2007 8:02 PMIn the case of the incident you relate, one should at least consider the possibility that it may have stemmed from something other than an unusual combination of ingredients... The shredded carrot may only have been an innocent catalyst. It is all the more surprising since there is a French saying : "Les carottes, ça rend aimable"... (the word "aimable" has no exact equivalent in English... )
At my house, He-Who-Thinks-He-Hates-Carrots might miss out, but that means more for me ha ha.
Posted by gingerpale on April 7, 2007 8:28 PMI tried this recipe the second time around using parsnips instead of carrots and it was still very tasty.
Posted by topgrubs.com on April 8, 2007 10:59 PMCan I ask a question about the second book? I dont know how someone can sample so many foods (I love the moblog so I see the photos of the kinds of things that you are tasting for the book) without gaining a ton of weight. What is the food writer's secret? I guess the same is true for trying your own recipes. One of the primary reasons that I cook is that I love to eat too! If I had all these fabulous foods to try all the time I would soon not be the fairly svelte person that I am. Assuming that you havent gained 30 pounds this past year, how did you do it? Take only small bites of each thing? Spit the food out?
Posted by Lisa on April 9, 2007 2:39 PMFor some reason carotte rapee tastes so much better in France. Even the ready-made boxes in the supermarket taste different.
It must be our carrots are tasteless :(
Assiette de crudites was a bistro standby for eons I think..now it's harder to find in it's original format of individual mounds of carotte rappe, betrave, concombre, celeri etc. \I've never seen carrot in a French salad verte..They'd have to change the name.
Aimable and aimiable are not similar?
Posted by ParisBreakfasts on April 9, 2007 10:14 PMI tried this today and added grated cucumber to the salad. Great combination, I think! I was out of chicken and tofu and thought I needed another flavor. It worked beautifully. I was also out of sunflower seeds, so I used toasted flax seeds, which gave the perfect nutty crunch on top.
Merci Bien, Clotilde!
Posted by Donna Smith-Harrison on April 10, 2007 3:06 AMI'm also wondering about the avocados turning brown over night.
Can't wait to try this recipe. Hoping for a ripe avocado tomorrow :).
Posted by GarlicScapes on April 10, 2007 4:36 PMSounds intriguing, except I'm allergic to avocado. i wonder what would be a good alternative to deliver the same texture and/or health punch?
Posted by TJ on April 11, 2007 7:21 AMAs far as the avocado turning brown, just leave it out until your ready to serve.
Posted by topgrub on April 11, 2007 9:45 AMSophie and GarlicScapes - Because the dressing of the salad contains a fair amount of lemon juice and vinegar, I've never had a problem with the avocado turning brown overnight.
Linda - Grated carrot salads have been around forever, but the carrot element is generally featured as the main (or only) vegetable of the salad. It is seldom added to a salad of greens (except perhaps in supermarket salads, but that's probably not what your friend had in mind).
ParisBreakfasts - The French word "aimable" could be described as a mix of amiable, genial, and polite.
TJ - The Cook's Thesaurus has a few suggestions of substitutions for avocado.
Posted by clotilde on April 11, 2007 11:07 AMHello Clotilde! I hope you enjoy my irreverent little tribute to your salad on my blog today:
"I consoled myself at dinner by making a fantastically easy and original salad from The Lovely Clotilde at Chocolate and Zucchini. Grated carrots, diced chicken, mashed avocado, lemon juice, Tabasco, balsamic and – most importantly – TOASTED SESAME SEEDS! I died and went to heaven, then came back from the dead in order to spread the gospel. Holy Mother of God! I’m re-living the ecstasy right now, by doing little, sesame-flavoured burps at regular intervals. Until you follow my example, and treat yourself to little sesame-flavoured burps, your lives will simply be empty and grey…"
Posted by Antipodéesse on April 11, 2007 9:14 PMHaving only carrots, an avocado, cilantro and a lemon, and no hot sauce, I added smoked paprika. It was DELICIOUS. Thanks for the idea.
Posted by Salli on April 12, 2007 1:02 AMMerci Clotilde - these words are similar since aimiable is Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin amīcābilis.
Posted by ParisBreakfasts on April 12, 2007 10:09 PMFriendly and agreeable in disposition; good-natured and likable. Cordial; sociable; congenial
Well your version of carotte rappee is very amiable than for sure!
I would never have thought of putting carrot and avocado together (which is why I blog-surf!) This sounds wonderful and I am addicted to anything with avocado. Thanks for the inspiration.
Posted by Deborah Dowd on April 13, 2007 1:55 AMReally very tasty, fantastic
I added some fresh goat's cheese from a Dutch island in stead of chicken or tofu. The cheese is similar to the Portugese cheese one gets with an aperitive around Lisbon. Also some wallnut oil and Dijon mustard.
Does anybody know a nice Puy lentil dish?
Greetings,
Pieter
Posted by Pieter Monné on April 14, 2007 5:04 PMDear Clotilde,
First my compliments on your great blog. I recently started to read it and I love it!!! And I also loved this delicious salad. I've made some ajustments due to what's in the fridge or cupboard but it was fantastic. Thank you and I will for sure be a regular visitor from now on!
Eva
Posted by Eva on April 18, 2007 4:31 PMJuste une suggestion : si tu aimes l'association tournesol-lin-sésame, tu devrais apprécier les biscuits Crusty classiques de la marque PURAL (je les trouve dans les Naturalia) : ce sont des tranches croustillantes faites de farine de blé (ou d'épeautre) complète et de ces trois graines : j'en ai toujours un stock chez moi !
Posted by Celine75 on April 19, 2007 6:09 PMLooks great, but I wonder if the avocados darken if you leave it overnight in the fridge? I'm game to try it, though, as I love the ingredients.
Meilleurs voeux!!
Posted by blueVicar on April 19, 2007 6:47 PMI just made this and used chickpeas since I didn't have any tofu or chicken. It's marinating in the fridge right now and I had to stop myself from just eating it right away, it's so tasty.
Posted by Jenne on May 13, 2007 6:08 AMI made this last night and sauteed the chicken with brown mustard seeds -- it was delicious. I paired the salad with the sesame zucchini soup, served chilled; a lovely summer dinner.
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2004/01/soupe_de_courgette_au_sesame.php
For Pieter, a Puy Lentil soup I like:
http://viciousange.blogspot.com/2007/05/puy-lentil-soup.html
Posted by mollykiely on June 29, 2007 1:21 AMHm, I'm sorry to say that I think I'm the only unsatisfied customer here. After all that grating--is there an easier way?--I wish the salad had come out better, but the citrus is too overpowering. I'm disheartened because I messed it up and I can't figure out how to fix it.
Posted by Kyla on July 10, 2007 5:35 AMThis is delicious! I made it today with tofu and pumpkin seeds, a touch of olive oil and a bit of cayenne instead of tabasco. It will undoubtedly become a staple with it's very high yummy and SO healthy quotient. Thank you for this recipe!
Posted by Diana on August 13, 2007 3:32 AMPrivacy. The email addresses you enter will not be used for any other purpose than the sending of this message.