Meatless Monday - Roasted Carrot and Avocado Salad

We don't always think of salad as a cool season dish but we still need our veggies. Besides, most greens are cool season vegetables and can have some really good flavors right now. So how about combining natures bounty of root vegetables and greens to make a winter salad that will make you happy.

This is my adaptation of Jamie Oliver's salad, much of this was made directly from our winter garden.

Roasted Carrot Salad

• 1 pound medium differently colored carrots, with their leafy tops
• 2 level teaspoons whole cumin seeds
• 1 or 2 small dried chillies, crumbled
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• extra virgin olive oil
• white wine
• 1 orange, halved
• 1 lemon, halved
• 3 ripe avocados
• red wine vinegar
• 4 x ½-inch-thick slices of artisan bread
• 2 handfuls of interesting mixed winter salad leaves (like Treviso, arugula, radicchio or mustard greens), washed and spun dry
• 2 bunches of watercress
• goat cheese (we used lavender and fennel goat cheese but plain will do fine)
• 4 tablespoons mixed seeds and/or nuts, toasted (like pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pistachio nuts, or slivered almonds)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Parboil your carrots in boiling, salted water for 10 minutes, until they are very nearly cooked, then drain and put them into a roasting pan. You should flavor them while they're steaming hot, so while the carrots are cooking get a pestle and mortar and smash up the cumin seeds, chillies, salt and pepper. Add the garlic and thyme leaves and smash up again until you have a kind of paste. The idea here is to build up the flavors. Add enough extra virgin olive oil to generously cover the paste, and a good swig of white wine. This will be like a marinade, a rub and a dressing all in one.  Stir together, then pour over the carrots in the pan, coating them well. Add the orange and lemon halves, cut-side down. These will roast along with the carrots, and their juice can be used as the basis of the dressing. Place in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden.

While the carrots are roasting, halve and peel your avocados, discarding the pits, then cut them into wedges lengthwise and place in a big bowl. Remove the carrots from the oven and add them to the avocados. Carefully, using tongs, squeeze the roasted orange and lemon juice into a bowl and add the same amount of extra virgin olive oil and a little swig of red wine vinegar. Season, and pour this dressing over the carrots and avocados. Mix together and adjust the seasoning to taste.

Broil your bread slices.Tear the toasted bread into little pieces and add to the dressed carrot and avocado. Mix together, toss in the salad leaves and cress and transfer to a big platter or divide between individual plates. Crumble the goat cheese over the salad, sprinkle on toasted seeds and drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil.