Carrot, Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad with Harissa

For the past five or so weeks, I’ve been out of town every weekend. There have been trips to San Fran and Maryland, Pittsburgh, a brief sojourn in Connecticut and Memorial Day weekend in Boston. While I generally love to travel, packing and repacking suitcases gets old after a while and I’m very much looking forward to spending this glorious summer weekend in NYC.

The biggest problem with traveling so much is that my eating habits have been thrown completely out of whack. I try to stick to a relatively healthy, balanced diet, and keep my eating out to a minimum on a regular basis. But I’ve been visiting a ton of restaurants / fast food joints while on the go, much more than my body is used to. My body is craving salad, people. Craving. Salad. You know things are getting rough when that happens.

Enter this concoction, which started out as a simple (but flavor-packed) carrot salad with harissa and feta on Smitten Kitchen. I made it that way last week, and then, in an attempt to bulk it out for lunch-bringing purposes, went HAM: adding chickpeas and cauliflower, since I’m a sucker for a good roasted cauliflower salad.

And while all of those additions are delicious*, the real star of this show is the harissa + spice blend that dresses the salad. Harissa is a vermilion-colored spicy Tunisian sauce, most commonly made with hot peppers, garlic, coriander and olive oil. Cumin, caraway and mint are often added, as is lemon juice. It’s tart, bright and fiery, and I’ve been stirring it into hummus, putting it on top of chicken, and even eating it straight out of the jar with pretzels. Sauteeing the harissa with additional spices mellows out a bit of its edge, creating a spice paste that is so good I half-contemplated licking the hot skillet. (I didn’t, don’t worry. But don’t think I didn’t think about it.)

As if there was any doubt, this salad hit all of the right notes: spicy, smoky, tart, bright, salty but slightly sweet (love how cauliflower caramelizes in the oven). It’s delicious hot or cold, and is wholesome without being bland. If this is the kind of food that happens when I’m actually home, then I’m clearing my calendar for the time being.

*If you haven’t ever roasted chickpeas in the oven, you’re missing out on the best, easiest, basically healthy snack (besides kale chips, obvi). While the chickpeas lose a bit of their crunch in this salad, they were so good straight out of the oven that I almost ate the whole can.

Carrot, Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad with Harissa
Adapted liberally from Smitten Kitchen

Note: I found harissa in both jars and cans at my grocery store. If you don’t see it there, you can buy it online or make it yourself!

– 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed, drained and patted completely dry

– 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

– salt and pepper, to taste

– 2 teaspoons + 1/4 teaspoon chipotle pepper, divided

– 1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets

– 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

– 1/2 teaspoon coriander

– 1 teaspoon ground cumin

– 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

– 1 tablespoon harissa

– 4 ounces grated carrots

– juice of one lemon

– 2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

1) Preheat the oven to 425F. On a small lined baking sheet, toss the chickpeas with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon of the chipotle pepper, and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the chickpeas are crisp. (Just a suggestion: these are the perfect snack with beer.)

2) On a separate baking sheet, repeat (using the same amount of the ingredients) with the cauliflower florets, and bake alongside the chickpeas for 25-30 minutes, until the cauliflower is roasted.

3) As the chickpeas and cauliflower are roasting, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a medium skillet. Add the garlic, coriander, cumin, cinnamon and remaining 1/4 teaspoon chipotle. Cook on low heat until the spices are fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Stir in the harissa and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.

3) Add the carrots and cook for 5-7 minutes, until the carrots have just begun to cook through. Transfer to a large salad bowl and add the cauliflower and chickpeas. Stir in the lemon juice and make sure everything is well mixed, adding salt and pepper to taste (if necessary — I didn’t). Chill for at least one hour, or preferably overnight, before serving.