I want to love carrot salad. I’ve tried lots of variations on it, and I just can’t get the right mix of flavors to tickle my palette. I was hopeful about this week’s French Friday with Dorie’s recipe: café style grated carrot salad, where the grated carrots are dressed with a honey mustard dressing. Optional ingredients are suggested. In the spring, I tried it with chopped chives, but this time I went with chopped toasted walnuts.

CSA Carrots

The salad is pretty, a burst of orange to complement most summer plates. The dressing is tangy, but also a little cloying at the same time. The nutty flavor of the walnuts was nice, but not enough to wow me. You can’t beat the easy of putting this salad together. I shook the dressing up in a jar, grated the carrots in the Cuisinart, toasted the nuts stovetop for a few minutes, and voilà! Not bad, but not the ultimate carrot salad I seek. J-OK (just OK) as my sister Jennifer says.

I don’t really have anything else to say about the carrot salad. I will show off my Quiche Caprese that I made in honor of Julia Child’s t100th birthday on Wednesday, August 15. Only the custard base was Julia’s recipe, from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The rest is just an inspired tribute. I whisked a tablespoon of pesto into the custard. Then, I arranged sliced tomato and fresh mozzarella over a partial-baked pastry crust. The custard was poured over and baked until set. I had enough for a full tart plus a little tartlet. A slice accompanied by some carrot salad made a colorful plate.

Happy 100th Birthday, Julia!

Happy French Friday, all!