Moroccan Carrot Salad

So carrot salad - sounds a little gross, huh?  It reminds me of jello molds and various other weird 1950's-esque potluck dishes.  For some reason, it sounds like it should have mayonnaise and raisins in it.  Maybe carrot salads in the US traditionally have both in them.  Actually, I just Googled "carrot salad recipes" and they do in fact traditionally have raisins and mayo in them.  Gross.  And it appears that they sometimes have pineapple in them, or various other fruits.  Also gross.  This carrot salad has none of the above.  And I'm not exactly sure what inspired me to make a carrot salad, except that I was thinking Moroccan and had a ton of carrots from the CSA in the fridge.  But I saw a recipe on Epicurious for a Moroccan Raw Carrot Salad and it piqued my interest.  The best thing about it was that there was no mayo or raisins involved, just evoo, lemon juice, cilantro and spices.  Actually, that was the second best thing.  The best thing was that the carrot salad was good.  Really good.  Alex ate forkful after forkful, and he was even more skeptical about making carrot salad than I was.  I knew it had to be good after I saw Alex go back for his third forkful.

Recipe after the jump!

Moroccan Carrot Salad

Adapted from Olive Trees and Honey

By Gil Marks

Available on Epicurious

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. carrots, peeled and coarsely grated (about 4 cups)

1/4 cup evoo

3-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp ground cumin 

1 tsp sweet paprika

pinch ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

1-1 1/2 tbsp harissa

In a large non-reactive bowl, combine all ingredients. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 1/2 hours. Season to taste with additional lemon juice, salt or harissa.

Served chilled or at room temperature.