Skip to main content

Carrot and Manchego Salad


A couple of months back, I was watching Masterchef Australia. It was an immunity pin challenge, where a contestant fights off a big name chef. The theme was cheese and while this contestant was busy fiddling with soufflés and what not, the chef announced he was making a salad. Rarely am I so impressed with a dish but the complexity of his carrot and manchego salad totally zapped me. So much so that I have been going back to the masterchef website and hoping they will put up a recipe. Which they didn't so I decided to recreate the salad all on my own.

Matt Stone's version was beautifully plated with carrot coins poached in whey, sweet carrot syrup, manchego cheese and burnt leeks. I got hold of some baby carrots so I created a slightly different spin on it. Here is a layer by layer description of my 'shot glass' salad.

A day before: To poach carrots in whey, you need to get some whey. So the night before or the morning of the day you are going to make this salad, take a carton of plain yogurt and stir a tsp of salt in. Take a strainer large enough to hold the yogurt, pop it on a glass or bowl and fill it with curd. Leave it in the fridge where the whey will drain into the glass, leaving creamy thick yogurt in the strainer.

Carrot Puree: Trim and peel a carrot. I only had baby carrots so I used 4 of those. In a saucepan, cover carrots with water and cook for 15-20 minutes until soft. Pop the carrots in a blender with 1/4 cup carrot juice, salt and fresh ground pepper. Whiz to a smooth puree and pour into a shot glass.

Yogurt: Take the thick, salty yogurt off the strainer and add a layer on top of the carrot puree. Be careful to not mix the two layers. I found it a bit hard to manage as the yogurt was heavier and kept sinking in the carrots. You might want to reverse the layers (yogurt first, then carrot) if you want cleaner layers.

Cheese and Herbs: Cover the yogurt with a layer of chopped basil and add some sliced manchego cheese, torn into small pieces to fit the shot glass.

Leeks: This is an interesting one. Apparently, when you burn leeks, they get bitter but still retain the onion flavour and are quite delicious. To make the leek soil, thinly slice a leek (just the green part) and spread on a dry baking sheet. Put it in an oven heated to 200C and let cook until completely charred and black. Let cook a bit, then crumble into a coarse powder. Sprinkle on the cheese.

Whey poached carrots: Pour your reserved whey into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Wash the baby carrots and trim the leaves and the ends. Add to the whey, reduce the heat and cook the carrots for 15-20 minutes until soft. Because of the whey, the carrots will get a bit tangy and be a great compliment to the sweet puree and the salty cheese.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but
10 comments
Read more

Announcing AWED : Britain

Before I ate my first Italian wood fired pizza, before I went to that swanky Japanese sushi bar for the first time, or the neighborhood Chinese joint, the first non-Indian cuisine I encountered was British. Not real food, mind you, but the tempting, oh so delicious descriptions in my favorite novels. From Enid Blyton to Jane Austen to P.G. Wodehouse, every favorite character in every favorite novel seems to have food on their mind. Yes, British food gets ridiculed a lot. But forget their main course dishes for now, and think of the full English breakfast and the elegant afternoon teas. Then try imagining the world without cucumber sandwiches or potato chips and you will realize you can't do without British food. Which is why when I saw that DK was looking for hosts for her monthly event AWED (A Worldly Epicurean's Delight) and there has never been a British AWED, I promptly signed up. The rules are simple really: Make any vegetarian or vegan British dish (eggs are
25 comments
Read more

Aloo Paranthas

In all these years of blogging, I've somehow never managed to talk about aloo paranthas, the potato stuffed flatbread that's a standard breakfast in North India. Possibly because they are such a staple in our home, I found there wouldn't be enough interest in the recipe. But I've also realised over time that my mom's recipe is unique, using a combination of flavours and spices that make these paranthas delicious. But that's not the only reason for this post. I also wanted to tell you about a super cool party and some ways we found to make aloo paranthas even better and believe it or not, healthier. The party in question was hosted by Rushina at her cooking studio a few months back. For a while now, Rushina has been talking about the merits of cling film, parchment and something called cooking foil made by Asahi Kasei. Because we won't believe that you can really cook without oil but using science, she invited a bunch of us over for a potluck lunch.
1 comment
Read more