Roasted Baby Carrot Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing

This summer I grew some baby carrots for the first time. They grew fast and heartily. As a result, I had a ton of carrots to contend with. They varied in size quite a bit. Some were very small and super cute at only an inch in length. As a little girl, I would've snatched up those baby carrots in a blink and served them up to Ken on a hot pink plate in my Barbie Dream House. Nice to know, nothing has changed since childhood, if only I'd kept my Barbie stuff. *sigh* 
But really, what should I do with them? Throw them away? Probably. They were so small that it almost wasn't worth the effort to clean them. But, I did and I used the really tiny ones in soups and numerous salads. Standard uses for carrots right? They were super cute, an unexpected surprise to see miniature whole carrots in your salad or soup bowl. 
However, the longer carrots were 3-5 inches long (The correct size for this variety of baby carrots) They were so pretty with their green tops, I couldn't bare to cut to tops off entirely so I decided to roast them whole and keep a little of the green tops on them. At first, I was just going to roast them and serve them as a side dish, but after they were roasted, they were so sweet and delicious I thought they would be great on a salad. I like to think of this salad as a transitional summer to fall salad. A perfect marriage of Fall and Summer, roasted root vegetables on a bed of summer veggies topped with a slightly sweet Carrot Ginger Dressing. Delicious! Hope you enjoy it!


Roasted Baby Carrot Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing
Serves 4

1 head Boston Bibb lettuce, chopped
1 cup baby spinach
1/2 cup broccoli florets, blanched
1/2 cup asparagus, blanched
1 cup roasted carrots
1/4 cup whole almonds
Bleu cheese, crumbled

Carrot Ginger Dressing

1/2 cup baby carrots, cooked

1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 t fresh ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, pressed or finely minced
2 T maple syrup
1 t yellow mustard
1/2 t dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash carrots thoroughly, lightly scrubbing to remove any remaining dirt. Trim green tops and the long root tip. I didn't peel my baby carrots, but if you prefer to peel them please do. Place carrots in a medium bowl and add 1 T canola oil and sprinkle with 1 tsp salt. Transfer carrots to a baking dish and arrange in a single layer. Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with chopped Italian parsley and cool completely. 
For the dressing: Place about 1/2 cup roasted baby carrots (green tops removed) in a food processor and add all the dressing ingredients except the oil to the food processor. Puree until all ingredients are finely chopped and combined. Add the oil and puree until the oil is emulsified. Add more oil as needed.

Prepare salad ingredients. Arrange on individual plates, top with almonds, bleu cheese and dressing.