Sal, ronnie, thanks for posting the photos -- although I have to say that I noticed an usually large ratio of photos that included yours truly and I'm not exactly sure how that happened since I'm extremely camera-shy ... :O
Anyhow, I've been a little late in posting on this thread, but I wanted to offer my feedback on making LAZ's Sweet Moroccan Carrot Slaw.
First of all, I'm going to admit something extremely embarrassing. I've never used a food processor before. I've owned one for about three years, maybe (thank you, after-Thanksgiving sales), but have never, ever used it. I don't cook as much as I should, and when I do cook, my recipes are generally very simple and very well-traveled.
When the time came to try and figure out how to use it for this salad -- well, let's just say I wasted a lot of carrots trying to get the method down. Then I wasn't exactly sure I had the texture of the carrots right. I thought maybe the carrots were supposed to be cut a little thicker, but I couldn't figure out how my food processor could DO that. (A mandolin slicer, maybe, but I don't have one of those, and, well, the recipe didn't call for that.) My husband came home to me venting my frustrations and explained that I
was doing it right and that the texture of the carrots was perfect for the slaw.
Well, after I figured
that out, everything else was a breeze.
LAZ was definitely right -- it's very quick if you use a food processor. The dressing is so ridiculously simple, and I added a little bit of fresh grated ginger (another cooking first!) to the dressing -- don't know if you caught that zest in there. Then, yes, I substituted the pine nuts for slivered almonds, which I also prefer. The leaf lettuce really does give the bowl a nice garnish -- it would have looked rather plain without it. Oh, and no one at Jewel had ever heard of orange flower water (~sigh~) so I left it out. I probably could have gone to Williams-Sonoma or something, but as I am a last-minute person, there wasn't enough time for that.
The biggest downside to making it was cleaning my food processor later, because everything -- and I mean
everything was coated in orange residue. I had to scrub out the plastic parts and still couldn't get it all out.
If I were to make it again, I'd probably cut the recipe in half or more. You really don't need all that much - it goes a long way. It's really simple and quite tasty. I'm glad I got to make it.
I also actually ended up making the Derby Day salad for a party the day before, since I'd bought half the ingredients before I found out someone had already claimed it. That was fairly simple, overall as well -- the most complicated thing being the pecans you had to candy, which wasn't complicated at all. (Also: I noted that they didn't taste as "candied" as I had expected, either, but I liked that.) I did have to adjust a little bit on the dressing by adding a little more honey (I ... may have put in a touch too much bourbon. Um. I don't know) -- but overall, it turned out well. The salad was a hit and it looks extremely nice on the plate.
Oh: also, another strike against Jewel? The people in the produce told me that Bibb Lettuce and iceburg lettuce were the same thing. Um -- what? I was skeptical, but two people told me this. Yes, you were BOTH wrong.
FINALLY -- I just want to thank everyone for their participation and making the awesome (more ambitious) recipes. Everything I had was phenomenal. I tried a LOT of different things and, you guys, seriously. I can't wait for the picnic. It was wonderful. Great efforts by everyone!! Thanks for letting us come with the baby, too...
-- Nora --
"Great food is like great sex. The more you have the more you want." ~Gael Greene