Radicchio & Roasted Carrot Salad

Most weeks roll on like the ones before, and the ones after. We eat and sleep and play. We work and go to the park and the library, drink coffee and bake bread. We laugh and argue and snuggle up in bed at night to keep warm in these cold, cold nights.

This week, however, this week has been a special one.

Today our chooks laid their very first egg. A small brown one, nestled in the straw. I found it after the kids had gone to daycare, so surreptitiously replaced it back amongst the straw so that W could discover it herself in the afternoon. The delight!

And the other crazy out-of-the-ordinary thing that happened? We bought an apartment! A home for our small family to live in – four walls, two bedrooms, a gorgeous terrace overlooking the trees and the rooftops of one of my favourite inner-city Melbourne suburbs.

I’ve got no clever segue from house buying to Radicchio & Roasted Carrot Salad. This is a simple salad that pairs the slight bitterness of the radicchio and the sweetness of roasted carrots with a bright shallot-based vinigarette. The toasted pepitas bring textural crunch. It’s easy, and colourful, and wonderful.

Enjoy!
Sarah x

Radicchio & Roasted Carrot Salad

Ingredients

1 small radicchio
15 – 18 heirloom carrots
1/4 cup pepitas, toasted
Extra-virgin olive oil, to cook

Vinigarette
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 shallot
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
Salt & pepper, to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°c/400°f.

Top and tail the carrots, and halve lengthwise. Toss the carrots in a bowl together with a generous glug of oil and a shake or two of salt & pepper. Lay in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for approx. 30 – 35 minutes, until starting to crisp and brown.

While the carrots are roasting, remove the core from the radicchio, wash, then roughly tear/chop the leaves.

Prepare the vinigarette by peeling and dicing the shallot and then adding the diced shallot along with the 1/4 cup of oil, the apple cider vinegar, and the thyme leaves to a small food processor or blender. mix until combined, then taste and add a pinch of salt & pepper if you feel it needs it.

When the carrots are ready, toss them together with the radicchio leaves. Add the vinigarette and mix to combine. Top with the toasted pumpkin seeds.

Serve immediately.