The 4-Ingredient French Carrot Salad I Can’t Stop Eating

One of my most beloved cookbooks is Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food. When I find myself with a bounty of any variety of produce, it’s the first place I look for inspiration. True to its title, the recipes within the book are incredibly simple, and the idea is to celebrate the ingredients you have by making them taste more like themselves. Waters taught me how to make a potato taste more like a potato, and how to make celery the centerpiece of a dinner party. 

When I was first introduced to the wonder of this book I was living in Queens and attending culinary school in Manhattan. While I worked almost every evening, a delicate way to describe my budget at the time was, in a word, also simple. Further, since my hours were erratic, I didn’t keep much fresh food on hand so as not to waste it. But I always had carrots. In fact, I often brought home giant carrots from culinary school, which we were required to use to practice knife cuts. 

A Simple Salad From a Classic Cookbook

Since I always had a ton of carrots around, I turned to Waters’ book for inspiration. I instantly hyperfixated on her “Simple Carrot Salad.” It was a mix of finely grated carrots, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and parsley. It was incredibly simple, and it would keep for a few days in the fridge. I basically lived off this salad for the better part of a year, but once my free supply of carrots went away, I forgot about it.

That was until I recently saw something similar trending all over social media. French Carrot Salad seemed to settle deep into my algorithm, and while I knew a trip to Paris was not in the cards anytime soon, I had everything on hand to whip up my own take on the classic French side.

My version is heavily inspired by Waters’ version, but with a bit more zip to the dressing thanks to more fresh lemon juice, tangy Dijon, and just a touch of honey. 

Grating the Carrots

There is debate about the proper texture of the carrots for this recipe, and while my take may not be super authentic, I like the carrots pretty finely grated. I like to use the second smallest hole on my box grater. I find this makes the salad easy to eat, but it’s not so fine that it goes mushy once the dressing is added. While the food processor will make quick work of this task, I found carrots grated in there are a little too wet and mushy for this application. 

However you choose to prep your carrots for this salad, it will be crisp, refreshing, savory, and hard to stop eating.

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