Queer Eye star Antoni Porowski recently graced the District with his (brief) presence during a brunch benefitting Whitman-Walker Health. For a cooking demonstration, he made a carrot, ginger, and date salad inspired by his father’s love of munching on carrots and dates.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound medium carrots, preferably rainbow
(about 6 medium) - 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
- 3/4 teaspoon honey
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Garnish of thinly sliced, pitted dates
Directions:
- Using Y-shaped peeler, slice the carrots into ribbons. (You can use the skin or throw it out, whatever you prefer.) If you want, you can soak the carrots in ice water and they will curl up themselves, but make sure that they are very dry before you dress them.
- Make the vinaigrette: Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, ginger, parsley, and kosher salt. Tip: For juicing, you can microwave the lemon for five seconds or roll it on its side on a counter. Add lemon zest for extra flavor.
- Spoon half of the vinaigrette into your serving bowl and swirl it to coat. Add the carrots, then drizzle the remaining vinaigrette.
- Add the dates and mix.
- Add finishing salt to taste.
“You can mess around with this salad, too,” says Porowski. “Fennel is really lovely in here. You could use almonds for a nice little added crunch. Citrus segments, since winter is upon us. Use blood oranges or beautiful Cara Caras. There’s so many things you can add. You can have arugula for a bit of lemon pepperiness.”
Helen joined Washingtonian in January 2018. She studied Journalism and International Relations at the University of Southern California. She recently won an Online News Award for her work on a project about the effects of the Salton Sea, California’s greatest burgeoning environmental disaster, on a Native American tribe whose ancestral lands are on its shores. Before joining the magazine, Helen worked in Memphis covering education for Chalkbeat. Her work has appeared in USA Today, The Desert Sun, Chalkbeat Tennessee, Sunset Magazine, Indiewire, and others.
Rosa is a senior editor at Bitch Magazine. She’s written for Washingtonian and Smithsonian magazine.
