It’s a good day when I make two great salads. I couldn’t decide which to tell you about first, so I’m going in chronological order. My brother was passing through town today, and he and I had this one for lunch. I’ll tell you about the dinner one (kale! toasted almonds! the rest of that black garlic!) another day.
Because, no, I don’t cook something new every day. In fact, some days I don’t cook at all. (Who cooks every day? More power to you, I say, but not me.) Here’s how it works around here: when I make something I really like that hasn’t yet been featured on Emmy Cooks, I snap a picture and jot it down on my list. Often I do tell you about it the same day, because it’s on my mind, but sometimes I don’t. And sometimes, like today, it’s fridge cleaning day and I make two worthy new salads and save one for another day. So that’s how I build up my list, which is where I turn for inspiration if it’s not a cooking day, or if I’ve only cooked old favorites that you already know about (I do that a lot), or if I tried something new that wasn’t so great. Because I only tell you about the great stuff.
This salad was great. 
Orange-Roasted Carrot and Avocado Salad with Cumin Vinaigrette: Cut carrots into pinky-finger-sized sticks. Toss with olive oil, a squeeze of orange juice (save other half of the orange for the dressing), and salt and pepper. Roast at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set carrots aside, reserving any orangey oil at the bottom of the pan to add to the dressing.You can do this in advance and refrigerate the carrots if you like.
Make a cumin vinaigrette in a small jar by combining the zest and juice of half an orange, 1 Tb. rice vinegar, 3 Tb. olive oil (including any oil leftover from the carrots), 1/8 tsp. cumin, and ¼ tsp. salt. Cap the jar and shake well. (This dressing is based on a recipe from Annie Somerville’s Fields of Greens, one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks. Try her pizza recipes!)
Dress some nice greens with the cumin vinaigrette and top with roasted carrots and avocado slices.
So interesting and beautiful! I’m going to grab some avocados and carrots and whip this one up – thanks for your hard work to present these wonderful recipes to us!
right up my street! last summer my go-to potluck salad had cumin-roasted carrots in it, and I had forgotten all about it! I want this for breakfast now.
I love roasted carrots! I’ll adjust the spices, since I don’t like cumin, but I’m going to try this soon!
Roasting carrots brings out their sweetness. Your colorful salad must have been good.
That’s so beautifully presented :D – Really delicious sounding salad indeed.
This post was a treat for my eyes as well as my appetite! This looks so delicious.
You make such good looking food Emmy!
Love the combination of roasted and cumin – turn it into a salad, I’m all over it!
Oops – please insert carrot ! :)
Sounds amazing. I use cumin all the time in my cooking, but never in a salad dressing. Will have to try it out!
This looks like a super yummy lunch. I kind of do the same thing. There are a bunch of posts in draft form for those periods when I make something that I have already posted, or when I get really slammed and don’t cook.
It seems to happen more often in the winter though, since cooking seasonally makes the posts kind of time sensitive!
That looks absolutely delicious.
I agree, this looks like a great salad indeed!
I love orange in anything and with the cumin and avocados it sounds divine. So, so pretty, too!
This does look like a truly great salad! I like the orange roasted carrots – sounds delicious with a cumin vinaigrette!