Turn winter carrots and oranges into a fresh spring salad

When your cooking revolves around seasonal ingredients, pulling a dish together in early spring can feel like a TV show challenge where you get a box of the same produce you’ve been using all winter and have to turn it into something fresh, bright and new.

That’s because while the season pops with color and growth, there is not much that’s close to being ready for harvest. For the time being, more root vegetables it is. Happily, it seems I won this competition round by spinning good old carrots and the last of the winter citrus into this vibrant salad.

Slicing the carrots into rounds, steaming them until they are crisp-tender and then shocking them in ice water to stop the cooking, softens the vegetable just enough while locking in its brilliant hue and fresh flavor. The carrots are then tossed with juicy orange segments and red onion in a lemon vinaigrette, which is seasoned with ground coriander and lightly sweetened with honey.

As a finishing touch, the salad gets a sprinkle of mint leaves for a salad that brings a new perspective to ingredients you likely already have in your kitchen.

Carrot and Orange Salad

2 pounds medium carrots (about 12), scrubbed, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch thick rounds

2 navel or blood oranges

1/4 cups finely diced red onion

1/4 cups fresh lemon juice (from 1 to 2 lemons)

1/4 cups extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoons fine salt

1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves

Bring a pot of water fitted with a steamer basket to a boil. Prepare a bowl of ice water.

Add the carrots to the steamer and cook until firm-tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to the ice bath and let cool completely, about 2 minutes. Drain and pat dry, then transfer to a large bowl.

Cut the top and bottom off each orange. Stand an orange on its end on a cutting board and, following the curve of the fruit, cut away the skin and pith. Then, working over a bowl to catch the juices, cut each orange section out of its pith. Repeat with the remaining orange. Cut each orange segment into 3 to 4 pieces and transfer them to the bowl with the carrots. Drink the orange juice or reserve for another use. Add the onion to the bowl with the carrots and orange pieces.

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, honey, coriander, salt and pepper. Drizzle the dressing over the ingredients in the bowl and toss to coat. Right before serving, toss in the mint leaves.

Yield: 6 servings

Storage note: Refrigerate for up to 2 days.