This is a great dinner salad. There are a lot of different textures so one's palate remains engaged while one is eating it, and this crunchy fall vegetable salad is filling. The carrot dressing is an additional perk -- tangy, nutty, spicy...and with the additional bonus of adding an additional serving of vegetables to your daily intake via the raw carrots with which it is made.
This is not the gingered carrot dressing that you might know from Japanese restaurant or bento meals. Though that is delicious in its own right, this dressing is less sweet and, for me anyway, feels more fall-like, due to the nuttiness of the tahini that I used. If you don't want to invest in a jar of tahini (though I highly recommend it as one of life's truly delicious ingredients -- I could bathe in it), use your favorite nut butter, smooth or crunchy.
Makes a little over a cup of dressing.
2 carrots, cut into pieces so your blender can handle them (I use organic carrots and do not peel them though I scrub them well)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 generous Tbsp of tahini or nut butter
1/2 tsp of Harissa
Pinch of cumin
Salt to taste
Measure everything in the blender and blend until smooth. Use within the week.
As for the salad itself, that is entirely up to you, just use whatever fall vegetables and greens that you happen to like keeping color and crunch in mind. As illustrated above, I used a base of shredded purple cabbage and hearty leafy greens, to which I added some pulses in the form of marinated cannellini beans, as well as some cubes of roasted sweet dumpling squash and some sliced sugar snap peas for added crunch.