Crunchy Carrot and Arugula Salad with Seeds, Citrus, and Tahini

full serving platter of crunch carrot and arugula salad.

Crunchy Carrot and Arugula Salad with Seeds, Citrus, and Tahini

This crunchy salad comes alive from the combination of ample sized raw carrot pieces, succulent Cara Cara oranges, arugula, seeds, and a tahini dressing, and is sits apart from the rest of the salad crowd with its soft ripened cheese garnish.

Prep Time30

Servings:

Calories: 265kcal

Author: Kathy Marshall

Ingredients

Salad Ingredients

6 medium carrots (1 lb total) with carrot tops if you want-see notes
1 bunch carrot tops if you carrots came with tops!
4 cups arugula (3 oz total)
1-2 oranges cara cara or blood orange top choices
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp furikake also used in dressing (3 tbsp total)
2 tsp olive oil also used in dressing (4 tsp total)

Optional Topping

2 oz soft ripened cheese see notes

Dressing Ingredients

2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp olive oil or water
2 tbsp furikake plus a little extra for garnish

Instructions

Prep Salad Ingredients (20 min to chop/slice/toast seeds)

Preheat oven to 350
If your carrots came with tops, remove the 1 bunch carrot tops , trim the stems, wash and roughly chop the carrot tops and set aside.
Clean (and peel if desired) 6 medium carrots (1 lb total), then slice on the diagonal into 1/4-3/8" wide slices. Ref. photo in post for guidance. This is not the typical way carrots are prepped for salad, and makes for nice crunchy pieces. See notes.
Prep 1-2 oranges into sections. See notes.
Toss 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds with 2 tsp olive oil and 1 tbsp furikake and toast in preheated oven for approximately 10 min, until a bit toasted (not too dark- taste if you are unsure).
Cut the 2 oz soft ripened cheese into small pieces and set aside.

Make Salad Dressing (5 min to mix ingredients)

Use fork or whisk to briskly whisk together the 2 tbsp tahini, 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 2 tbsp furikake, and 2 tsp olive oil (or water) until smooth. See notes.

Assemble Salad (5 min to arrange and mix with dressing)

Place the 4 cups arugula (3 oz total), prepped carrots, and half of the toasted pumpkin seeds on a serving platter and mix with the dressing so that all pieces are coated. You will see that this is not an overly dressed salad. Arrange the orange slices and cheese (if using) over the salad, and sprinkle the rest of the pumpkin seeds and a bit of extra furikake over the salad and serve. See notes.

Notes

Soft ripened cheese: I used a smaller Coulommiers-style cheese, but you can use any soft-ripened cheese you like the taste of such as brie, camembert, triple cream, soft-ripened goat cheese, or one with a blue vein running through, if you love blue cheese.

Cutting carrots: my carrots as per photos, are medium sized and not overly thick (less than 1" diam). If your carrots are larger sized then cut your diagonal slices about 1/4" thick, or cut the carrots in half lengthwise first. The goal is to have bite-sized pieces that are not too small or too flimsy to chew on. Too small can be annoying (this isn't a soup!), but too large can be hard to chew.

Cutting oranges: I like to use a knife to cut off the top and bottom of the orange peel and then cut away the peel/pith of all the orange, and cut into sections. This looks prettier in a salad than peeling by hand and separating the sections. You can also cut the flesh across section for circular slices if you like that look (adds nice contrast in salad presentation).

Mixing dressing: tahini can be tricky when mixing into a dressing. Depending on the temperature of all the ingredients, if cool, the tahini can "seize up" which is just the solids and oil separating. As you continue to stir, it will come together (see post photos). To this end, you have a choice of adding in 2 tsp oil or water (or both if needed) as the final ingredient when mixing the dressing. It's not overly important how smooth the dressing is (and it will be full of the crispy furikake solids), but if you still struggle, try adding an extra teaspoon of warm water to bring all the ingredients to a similar temp and create a smoother dressing.

Serving salad: I am a firm believer in "arranging" all or part of a salad before serving so that it looks really pretty when set at the table. This is why I describe mixing the dressing with some ingredients, arranging some of the ingredients on top of the tossed ingredients, and sprinkling or garnishing the salad with a bit of the ingredients or garnishes.

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