Each year I love having the BBC Good Food recipe calendar in my kitchen and although I’ve not cooked or baked every recipe for each specific year… I’ve decided with this year’s calendar to try all their seasonal recipes for a bit of cooking inspiration and thought I’d share them with you too.
Starting with January’s recipe, the roasted carrot, spelt, fennel and blood orange salad is already a favorite and have made this delicious wholesome grain salad on a few occasions. I used farro instead of spelt because that is what I had in my store cupboard, so use what you prefer.
Carrots have come into season at out local farmers market in Bahrain and perfect for this salad, otherwise use normal carrots and cut them into thick batons. Blood oranges are also in season and I love their sweet flavor and gorgeous ruby red color when you cut them open. If you don’t feel like segmenting the oranges, you can chop the oranges into pieces if you like.
As suggested, you can serve this healthy grain salad with some sliced chicken or add in some goat’s cheese or crumbled feta. That’s January’s dish completed… keep an eye out for February’s seasonal recipe.
Roasted Carrot, Spelt, Fennel and Blood Orange Salad
(Serves 6)
Recipe adapted from the BBC Good Food 2019 recipe calendar.
Ingredients:
400g spelt or farro
1 vegetable stock cube
1 tablespoons olive oil
400g baby carrots, scrubbed
2 blood oranges zested, afterwards remove peel and pith then cut into segments
1 teaspoon honey
2 fennel bulbs, thinly sliced
1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
75g pitted black olives, or Kalamata olives
1/4 cup chopped parsley
For the dressing:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 blood orange, juiced
4 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
How to make:
Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6.
Cook the spelt/farro with the stock cube following the packet instructions. Once the spelt/farro is done, drain any liquid then transfer into a bowl to cool.
Meanwhile, place the carrots into a roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil, add the orange zest and a few pinches of sea salt. Give the roasting tray a shake to mix all the ingredients together and roast for 15 minutes. Add the honey and fennel, carefully mix together. Continue roasting for a further 10 to 15 minutes or until done.
Meanwhile, make the dressing by whisking the extra virgin oil, orange juice, red wine vinegar and honey in a small bowl. Set aside.
Add the cooled carrots and fennel plus any cooking juices to the bowl of spelt/farro. Add the orange segments, red onion, olives and chopped parsley. Drizzle over the dressing and gently toss all the ingredients together. Check seasoning and add more salt to taste if necessary. Scrape the contents of the bowl onto a serving platter and serve. Best served at room temperature.
Tip: If making this salad a few hours in advance, add the dressing and parsley before serving. If added too far in advance the spelt/farro will soak up the dressing and the parsley wilt.
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