Hiiiieeeeeee everybody! Are we ready for fall?! I AM! It finally got a little chilly today in Chicago and it’s totally gloomy and I’m loving every minute of it. I even already have a date planned with my gal Katrina from Baking with Soul to come over to decorate the outside of our house to be mega-fallish + mega-spooky, I can’t wait. {insert ghost emoji here}

It’s not just the pumpkin-scented everything that I love, it’s the s_l_o_w_i_n_g down that seems to happen with autumn that I adore. It’s been a fab summer – but one of the busiest we’ve ever had, so I’m really looking forward to staying in and having cozy nights around the fire, hot-toddies in the hot tub, and making lots of yummy, hearty meals for me and Sir Dave.

See, I’m already doing it! Here I am demonstrating how to slow down:

Okay, okay – enough about fall (for now). Let’s talk food. I recently had a birthday and I got so many lovely foodie gifts – one of my favorites being the cookbook, Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, from our great friends D + Laura. I am obsessed with this cookbook and highly recommend it. It has such inspiring recipes based on what’s in season. And what I love is the real uniqueness to each recipe – I’ve been a little bored with a lot of my go-to’s and seeing totally new combinations of flavors has me excited to spend more time in the kitchen.

Never in a million years would I have thought to combine the ingredients below, but I did, and it was delish. I think this would be a fun twist as a Thanksgiving side – or just as a fresh fancy side salad for a weeknight dinner. Give it a go and let me know what ya think!

Cook time: 10 minutes
Servings: 4-6

Ingredients
2 bunches of scallions
3/4 pounds of carrots, trimmed and peeled
1 cup walnuts, lightly toasted
3/4 cups dried cranberries (my addition)
2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
1/2 cup lightly packed chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
salt + pepper
olive oil
1 ball burrata or fresh mozzarella

Heat a cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Cut the scallions in half so they fit in the skillet, then pop them in the pan dry – no oil. Turn them frequently until they are lightly blackened, about 8-10 minutes. Remove and chop into 1/2 inch pieces and set aside.

The recipe suggests grating the carrots on the large holes of a box grater, but I used the shredder blade on my food processor and it worked great, so either way.

Once the carrots are grated or shredded, put them in a large bowl and add the scallions, cranberries, walnuts, anchovies, parsley, lemon juice, chili flakes, 1/2 tsp salt and 20 twists of black pepper. Toss together and let the salad sit for a few minutes so that the dressing really sinks in. Then add 1/4 cup of olive oil, toss, taste and add more seasoning if needed.

Serve topped with creamy chunks of burrata. YUMZ.