Give Me Five: Harissa carrots with goat’s cheese

For this recipe I'm using Clonmore, a hard gouda-style goat's cheese that is handmade by Tom and Lena Biggane just outside Newtownshandrum, near Charleville, Co Cork. The Saanen and Toggenburg goats have 20 acres of rich Golden Vale grassland to roam. This rich grazing lends complexity and fullness to the cheese. It has a mild flavour: sweet when young and developing notes of fudge, chocolate and hazelnuts as it ages. It's a really special cheese and one to look out for. Stockists include Iago in Cork and Sheridan's Cheesemongers.

This pretty salad is really nice when made with young, small carrots. The tips curl and caramelise in the heat. If you’re growing carrots, this dish is a lovely way to give them centre-stage on the plate. I’m yet to meet someone that doesn’t loves baby vegetables; I think we are designed to gravitate towards anything miniature. I fall for it every time: I bought a hand of diminutive bananas recently that tasted like soap but were incredibly cute. I just had to have them. You can hear the coos of shoppers in the fruit and vegetable aisle of Fallon and Byrne when they first see the tiny pineapples. I bought one of those, too, and I couldn’t bare to cut into it, so I can’t tell you what it tasted like.

My latest kitchen trick is to roast vegetables in a harissa and olive oil mix. I've tossed thick slices of courgette in it, I've brushed halved aubergines with it, and it's delicious on potato wedges. In this dish it brings loads of fiery flavour, which is then calmed by a blanket of creamy smooth goat's cheese. Top the carrots with wafer-thin shavings of cheese while still warm and it'll melt beautifully. The harissa paste I use is from the Olive Stall, available at the English Market in Cork as well as at stalls in farmer's markets around the country. It's a really pure mix of chilli peppers, garlic, coriander, olive oil and salt. I sometimes stir it through mayonnaise to make a quick sauce for patatas bravas.

Most of my meals at this time of year are based around good salad leaves. It’s a great way to get your daily dose of greens. I usually buy a few bags and wash the contents in the salad spinner, then place them in the fridge with a little water in the base. If you can’t access nice organic leaves, you can wash them in a cider vinegar solution. Even when the packet says they have already been washed, it doesn’t say what they’ve been washed in; no one wants chlorine-soaked leaves. So give them a cider vinegar rinse to remove as much pesticide and chemical residue as you can.

I cover the leaves with water, then add a tablespoon of vinegar and leave them to soak for a few minutes, stirring halfway through. Then rinse off with clean water so there’s no vinegar aftertaste. Washing them this way usually breathes new life into the leaves, too, so it means a fresher, crisper salad.

HARISSA CARROTS WITH GOAT’S CHEESE: SERVES 4

The five ingredients

• 6 small carrots
• 1tsp harissa paste
• 120g salad leaves
• Handful of Kalamata olives
• 60g Clonmore goat's cheese or similar

From the pantry

• Olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Slice the carrots lengthways or keep them whole if they’re young and small.

Mix a teaspoon of harissa paste with a tablespoon of olive oil. Rub this mix all over the carrots. It’s easiest to use your hands to do this; just make sure to wash them well afterwards to avoid any negative reaction from the chilli in the harissa.

Place on a tray and roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes until al dente and the tips are beginning to crisp up. Divide the salad leaves between four plates, drizzle with the carrot’s cooking oil and then a little olive oil.

Top with the warm carrots, a few olives and some shavings of goat’s cheese.

Serve immediately so the leaves don’t wilt.

• Every Thursday we'll tweet the five ingredients from @lillyhiggins and @irishtimeslife so you can have them ready for Friday. Email givemefive@irishtimes.com with your suggestions for recipes