Today, we’re featuring a classic everyday type French dish — carottes râpées (grated carrots salad). A low calorie dish, carottes râpées are a great way to help your family eat their veggies (and get all the benefits of carrots) while enjoying a delicious dish — they may be asking for more! In France, it is typically served before a main course (which has the advantage of making you less hungry for the rest of the meal). As spring rolls in, carottes râpées replace the winter soup as a meal starter (entrée). But you can also use carottes râpées as a starting point to create a nutritious mixed salad dish to be served as a main course for a light dinner or lunch. Carottes râpées are very easy to make and so convenient, they can be made ahead of time. Check our detailed recipe and Art of the Home suggestions below. Enjoy and bon appétit!
Carottes Râpées (Grated Carrots Salad)
INGREDIENTS (for 4 servings)
- 8 carrots (count 2 carrots per serving for a starter)
- 6 TBSP of olive oil (you can use vegetable oil also)
- 2 TBSP of balsamic vinegar (you can use a fine red wine vinegar also)
- 1 tsp of spicy mustard (e.g. Maille Dijon mustard: has the closest taste to what I use when I am in France). You can use 2 tsp if you prefer a stronger vinaigrette.
- 1 minced shallot
- 1 garlic clove
- Minced parsley (optional)
- Salt & pepper
DIRECTIONS TO MAKE THE SAUCE VINAIGRETTE
The key in any vinaigrette sauce is to maintain a 3 to 1 ratio of oil to vinegar.
- Mix 1 teaspoon of mustard with 1-2 pinches of salt and 2 turns of ground pepper mill (or 2 pinches of pepper). Mix in 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
- Using a spoon or whisk, slowly mix in 6 tablespoons of olive oil, a few drops at a time. You want to make sure your vinaigrette emulsifies (i.e. mixing the oil and vinegar together so it becomes an nicely homogenized mixture) otherwise your salad will be coated with oil and the vinegar will fall to the bottom of the bowl. If it doesn’t or if you left the vinaigrette in the fridge for a short while, mix energetically and it should catch. In the worst case, a blender will do the trick.
- Add in minced shallots.
- Taste and add more salt & pepper if needed.
DIRECTIONS TO MAKE THE CAROTTES RAPEES (GRATED CARROTS SALAD)
- Peel and wash carrots
- Using a shredder (hand or Kitchen Aid type appliance), grate your carrots and place in a serving bowl. Thinly grated carrots make the best carottes râpées!
- Mince garlic clove and spread over carrots. (And you can use our Art of the Home tips to remove garlic odor.)
- Pour in sauce vinaigrette and toss.
- Sprinkle minced parsley (optional).
A FEW SUGGESTIONS
- Quick lunch: grab leftover carottes râpées, mix in a hard boil egg, tomatoes, and one can of tuna. Enjoy with a piece of baguette or your favorite bread. Great low calories on-the-go lunch. If you don’t have time to make the vinaigrette, simply use your favorite salad dressing (an Art of Home favorite is Newman’s Own Family Italian Recipe). You can have it handy in your fridge (or your fridge at work), skip step 3 and use it for step 4 above.
- Make ahead of time: carottes râpées are great to make ahead of time. Put your leftover carottes râpées in the fridge. Overnight, the carrots woll have absorbed more of the vinaigrettes which makes them even tastier!