Carrot, Dill and White Bean Salad

Carrots are one of my favorite vegetables.  They're so incredibly versatile.  Crispy and crunchy raw, meltingly tender when slow cooked.  Makes my mouth water to think about them. 

Ths month's Secret Recipe Club blog is Veronica's Cornucopia.  I'd gone thru and made a list of the recent posts I'd like to try.  Then, when we were finishing up leftovers from our big party, I looked for a side dish.  You see, I had a container of Bloody Mary Grape Tomatoes that I was going to turn into Penne a la Vodka and I wanted something to go with it.  I knew from reading her blog that Veronica has a lot of great side dishes.  So, her blog was the first place I looked.  I saw carrots and white beans in a lemony vinaigrette.  Sold. 

You probably know the Secret Recipe Club drill by now.  Each blogger is assigned a blog.  We choose a recipe to make then blog about it.  We're allowed to make changes along the way.  Since I fall firmly in the category of I'm going to tweak the first time, I typically do make some small changes.  Then, on our group's reveal day we get to see what everyone else chose and who had our blogs.  And, we can always head to the Secret Recipe Club site and see not only the other group's recipes but all the ones that've been posted in the past.  It's a lot of fun, particularly if you get a blog like Veronica's that has such a great selection of fun dishes.  And, that's fun to read.  So, thank you Veronica for a very delightful time with your blog.  I'll be back to visit and see what you're up to now!

What did we think?  I made one big change.  The original recipe called for topping this with toasted sliced almonds.  We used feta cheese instead.  This was a fabulous side dish.  The beans help make it healthy.  Well, so do the carrots!  I'm going to try it with different herbs and cheeses and nuts and vinaigrette flavors.  What really makes the difference is browning the carrots.  It brings out all the lovely sweetness.  Now, Veronica originally got this from 101 Cookbooks.  That's a blog that I frequent too.  Here's a link directly to the recipe on Veronica's site:  Carrot, Dill and White Bean Salad.

Carrot, Dill and White Bean Salad

Ingredients:

for the dressing:

1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c fresh lemon juice
1/4 t salt
1/2 c finely diced red onion

for the salad
1 t vegetable oil
2 c sliced carrots, cut 1/4" thick on the bias
3 c cooked beans (white beans, chick peas... whatever you like)
1 T dried or 1/4 c chopped fresh dill
2 T packed brown sugar
1/3 c crumbled feta cheese (or you can used toasted nuts)

Directions:

In a small skillet, saute then carrots in the vegetable oil until they're lightly browned.  While those are cooking, mix the dressing ingredients and set aside.  In a medium bowl, toss the cooked carrots wtih the beans and dill. Top the mixture with the brown sugar.  Slowly pour the dressing over the brown sugar and toss to coat.  Serve topped with crumbled feta or toasted nuts.