Diamond Hill Farm sells at the Morningside Farmers Market and they suggested this salad “Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables” by Joshua McFadden’s cookbook. You could substitute pecans for the walnuts, of course, and I’m going to buy all the Georgia pecans I can find this year to help support those farmers who lost so many pecan trees in this crazy hurricane season.
Ingredients:
2 bunches scallions (about 16), trimmed 3/4 pound carrots 1 cup walnuts, lightly toasted and chopped so that some are quite fine and some are still chunky 2 anchovy filets, finely chopped 1/2 cup very lightly packed roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper 1 ball burrata or very fresh mozzarella
Preparation:
Heat a cast-iron or other heavy skillet over medium-high heat (or heat a grill). Cut the scallions into lengths that will fit into the skillet, or leave them whole if you are grilling them. Char or grill the scallions – dry, no oil – turning them frequently, until they are blackened on the outer layer and very soft and collapsed and juicy inside, 8 to 10 minutes. Chop the scallions into 1/2 inch pieces and set aside.
As the scallions are cooking, prep the carrots by grating them on the large holes of a box grater or shredding them using a mandolin or other appliance. You can also cut them into julienne by hand, but the finer, the better, because the seasonings will penetrate more deeply into carrots cut into a finer gauge.
Put the carrots in a bowl and add the scallions, walnuts, anchovies, parsley, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt and about 20 twists of black pepper. Toss well and let the salad sit for a few minutes so the seasonings can marry and the salt can draw out a bit of the carrot juices. Toss again, taste, and dial in the flavors so they are really lively by adding more of any of them. Pour in 1/4 cup olive oil and toss. Taste again, then distribute on your plates or a platter.
Pull the burrata or mozzarella into shreds or little blobs and distribute over the salad. Drizzle on a bit more oil to finish and serve.