Millet Salad with Baked Carrots and Orange Dressing

Once you make this salad, you will see why I love to serve it to guests. The millet makes this salad filling, and the orange dressing and baked carrots add a warming sweetness that draws you in. The sautéd onions keep you wanting more. But the best thing about this salad is that it offers a big payoff for little work. You can even cook the millet the night before, shortening your prep time.

INGREDIENTS:

For the salad:

3 Carrots, Julienne

1/2 Onion sliced

1/2 Cup chopped walnuts

1/2 Cup dried millet

1 Cup water

1 Head romaine lettuce

For the Dressing:

1 Orange, peeled

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/4 Teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 Teaspoon fresh pepper

DIRECTIONS:

First: Preheat the oven to 400°. Once the oven is hot, put the Julienne carrots on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

Second: Cook the millet. Put the dry millet in a pan (without water) and turn the heat up to medium. Let the millet start to roast for about 4 minutes. It will start to smell nutty, and once you smell the nutty aroma, add the water. After the water starts to boil reduce the heat, place the lid on the pan and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Once all the water is gone, fluff with a fork and remove from the heat.

Third:  While the carrots are baking and the millet is cooking in water, sauté the onions. Start off with letting them cook without any water or oil and once you see them start to brown and caramelize, put a splash of water (1 tablespoon or less) in the pan to get up all the yummy  browning from the pan. Once the onions are done cooking, reduce the heat to low, keeping them warm until you are ready to serve the salad.

Fourth: Place all of the dressing ingredients in a high-power blender until smooth.

Fifth: On a plate, lay down a bed of lettuce and then place the millet, baked carrots, sautéd onions, and chopped walnuts on top. Drizzle with the orange dressing.

Serves 4

Enjoy,

Rachel