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Kitchen & Cooking

Taste the rainbow with this shaved carrot salad

Creamy dijonnaise, crunch walnuts, and fresh herbs round out this side dish.

A bowl filled with carrot, herb, and dijonnaise salad. Credit: Reviewed / Caroline Schiff / Tara Jacoby

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Caroline Schiff is a chef, recipe developer, writer, and consultant based in Brooklyn, New York. She is currently the executive pastry chef at Gage & Tollner and the head chef of Slow Up. She has over a decade of experience in the industry from restaurants and recipes to bakeries and cafes. Schiff recently published her first cookbook, "The Sweet Side of Sourdough," with Page Street Publishing.

When you first start off in any professional kitchen, one of the few tools you’ll find you actually need is a simple, absurdly affordable Y-shaped vegetable peeler. They’re great for peeling thin strips of citrus zest for desserts and cocktail garnishes, making delicate chocolate shavings, carving cheesy strips from a hunk of parmesan. In fact, I hardly ever use it to peel a vegetable, but when I’m craving something crisp and fresh, I grab my peeler and whip up a batch of this shaved carrot salad.

Voluminous, multicolored, and a textural adventure, your peeler does all the heavy lifting for this salad. Rainbow carrots make this dish all the more visually appealing, but any full-sized carrots will work. You’ll also need ice for ice water, which is crucial for super crunchy ribbons of carrots that will hold up on the table.

Also, let’s talk mayonnaise. There are two kinds of people in this world: those who love making their own mayo, and those who do not. I am the former. You may be as well, or you could be the latter, and that’s fine too. My point is, use whichever mayo makes you happy.

Cooking this dish? We want to see! Tag @reviewed and @pastryschiff on Instagram so we can share your masterpiece.

What You Need

An illustration of a vegetable peeler
Credit: Reviewed / Tara Jacoby

Ingredients

5 large rainbow carrots, washed and peeled ⅔ cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar 1 clove garlic, grated Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill, plus more for garnish 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish ⅓ cup chopped walnuts, lightly toasted

Tools

Y-shaped vegetable peeler, like Reviewed’s favorite Kuhn Rikon Original Swiss Peeler Set of mixing bowls Box grater Cutting board Chef’s knife Pepper grinder

Time Needed

15 minutes

Difficulty

Easy

Yield

Serves 6 to 8

How to make Rainbow Carrot Ribbon Salad with Herbs, Walnuts, and Homemade Dijonnaise

A bowl o f salad with the text "Shaved Carrot Salad" and an arrow pointing.
Credit: Reviewed / Caroline Schiff / Tara Jacoby

Salads don't have to just be leafy greens.

Step 1: Shave the carrots

Fill a large bowl with ice water. Using the Y-shaped vegetable peeler, shave long ribbons off of the carrots and directly into the ice water. You can flip the carrot over when shaved halfway, and place the flat side down on a cutting board to shave off as much as possible. If there’s any carrot leftover that can’t be shaved, you can snack on it, give it to your dog, save it for a veggie stock, or put it in your compost bin.

Step 2: Chill the carrot ribbons

Once you’ve shaved all of the carrots into the ice water, transfer the bowl to the fridge so it stays cold until you’re ready to assemble your salad.

A closeup of shaved carrots in a bowl
Credit: Reviewed / Caroline Schiff

Keep the ribbons chilled until you're ready to assemble.

Step 3: Make the dijonnaise

In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, and garlic. Mix to combine and season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning.

A blue speckled bowl of dijonnaise.
Credit: Reviewed / Caroline Schiff

The dijonnaise serves as a perfect dressing.

Step 4: Assemble the salad

Drain the carrot ribbons and gently pat them dry. Place them in a dry, large mixing bowl and toss with the herbs. On a large platter, spread about ⅓ of the dijonnaise. Top with half of the carrot ribbons in a high pile. Dollop on another third of the dijonnaise, then add the remaining carrots. Dollop on the last of the dijonnaise, the toasted walnuts, and more herbs for additional garnish if you’d like. Serve immediately.

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