Roasted Carrot, Fig and Almond Salad

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220°C, or 200°C fan-forced. A slower oven softens carrots before it colours them, and colour is most of the flavour here.
2. Scrub the carrots rather than peeling them, leaving a centimetre of stalk on the small ones and halving anything thicker than a thumb lengthways.
3. Toss them on a large tray with the roasting oil, the coriander seeds, a good pinch of fine salt and plenty of pepper, then spread them so no two pieces touch.
4. Roast for 30 minutes, turning once halfway, until the edges are dark in patches and a knife slides into the thickest carrot with no resistance.
5. Chop the almonds while the tray is in the oven, or toast plain flaked ones in a dry pan for 3 minutes until they smell nutty, then tip them out of the pan.
6. Spread the rocket over a long platter in a thin layer rather than a bed, so the leaves sit under the carrots instead of burying them.
7. Tip the carrots onto the leaves while still hot, scraping the coriander seeds and oil from the tray over them. The heat wilts the rocket a little, which is wanted.
8. Spoon the caramelised balsamic back and forth over the carrots straight from the bottle, then do the same with the finishing olive oil. Nothing needs whisking.
9. Scatter the figs while the carrots are still hot so they soften, then the almonds, the lemon zest and the torn herbs.
10. Finish with a pinch of salt flakes and take it to the table warm, or serve it off the bench within the hour.

Warm, room temperature, or made the day before

Warm does not mean hot. Straight off the tray the carrots are too hot to taste and the balsamic runs thin. Ten minutes on the platter is about right, and it holds there for an hour while the rest of lunch gets sorted, which is the practical argument for a warm salad in December.

To get ahead, roast the carrots through step 4 a day early. Give them 8 minutes in a hot oven before assembly rather than serving them from the fridge, and dress and top the platter at the last minute either way, since rocket under a sweet dressing collapses in about 20 minutes. Leftovers are better chopped than reheated: cut the carrots into 2cm lengths and fold them through couscous with the figs and whatever is left on the platter. Our guide to Christmas side dishes covers the other trays worth the oven space, and the vegetarian Christmas grazing board is the same flavours with no cooking at all.

Common questions

Can you serve a warm salad at Christmas?

Yes, and in an Australian December it is often easier than a cold one, because it needs no fridge space when you have none left. The rule is warm rather than hot: roast the vegetables, dress them off the heat, then let the platter stand for ten minutes to settle towards room temperature. Assemble anything with leaves in it last, since a warm dressing wilts them quickly.

What is caramelised balsamic?

Balsamic vinegar cooked down with sugar until it thickens, so it pours slowly and coats what it lands on. It is sweeter and less sharp than the vinegar it started as, and behaves like a glaze rather than the acid half of a dressing. It is not an aged balsamic, where the thickness comes from years in barrel rather than a pan. Use it from the bottle over roast vegetables, strawberries or hard cheese.

Can you roast carrots ahead and serve them cold?

You can, though room temperature beats fridge cold every time. Olive oil firms and clouds in the fridge, and the sweetness of a roast carrot reads flat cold, so bring the container out at least 30 minutes before serving. After a night in the fridge, 8 minutes at 200°C crisps the edges again. Add the balsamic, the figs and the leaves after that, never before.

Both caramelised balsamics are $7.95 for 100ml: fig and honey for the sweeter pour used here, and the caramelised classic if you want it drier against the carrots. They sit with the rest of our olive oil and vinegars, shipping is free Australia-wide on orders over $100, and orders placed before 12pm on a weekday are dispatched the same day from our Corio, VIC warehouse, tracked with Australia Post. If it is going to somebody else's kitchen, it travels inside our Christmas hampers.