Lunch can be a slippery slope. You need to make sure it’s quick, cheap, not so laden with carbs that you leave at the end of the day with paperclip depressions in your forehead from falling asleep at your desk, and also hopefully not completely devoid of joy. That last part is the hardest for me. It’s all too often that I find myself going down the path of least resistance come lunch time and usually that means something frozen or otherwise convenient. But then I remember everyone’s “blah blah blah self care!” and “blah blah blah you are a goddess!” stuff and I feel shitty. So today I vow to stop letting lunchtime perplex and annoy me. I’m on a mission to fall in love with lunch again. So here is the first in a series of recipes that I hope will reignite your passion for the midday meal.
Carrot salad makes me think of the early 90’s. Specifically of the very short time that we owned a salad shooter by Presto – basically my generation’s version of the spiralizer. As I recall it back then, it was a mountain of carrots (healthy) negated almost entirely by copious gobs of mayonnaise (not so healthy) and raisins (gross). But we ate it, and we called it salad, and we brought it to picnics (food safety nightmare), and damnit, we enjoyed it!
Today I doubt you could pay me enough money to eat that stuff.* But this one right here – I’d eat this all day, every day. It’s crunchy, fresh, tangy, the slightest bit sweet and you can have it in your mouth in under 15 minutes – perfect lunch, excellent weeknight dinner. BOOM.
*Uh, clearly this is an exaggeration – if anyone wants to pay me to eat 90’s style carrot salad, please reach out. I accept cash, checks, and all major credit cards!
Carrot Salad with Chickpeas and Tahini Dressing
- May 15, 2018
- 4
- 15 min
- Print this
Ingredients
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ¼ C tahini
- 1 T honey
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 2 T lemon juice
- 1-2 T warm water
- 2 lbs carrots, peeled and shredded (using a food processor, spiralizer, vegetable peeler, or box grater)
- 1 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ¼ C chopped mint
- Optional: ¼ C crispy fried onions
Directions
- Step 1
- Combine garlic, tahini, honey, salt, pepper, cumin, and lemon juice in a small bowl (or a food processor), and whisk or process to combine, adding some or all of the water to thin out the dressing a bit. It should have the consistency of heavy cream.
- Step 2
- In a large bowl, combine carrots, chickpeas, mint, and tahini dressing. Mix to combine.
- Step 3
- Serve, garnishing with fried onions and more mint.
