Roasted carrot, spelt, fennel & blood orange salad

A healthy grain salad, perfect served with sliced roast chicken, or crumbled feta or goat’s cheese for lunch or a light dinner

400g spelt
1 vegetable stock cube
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
400g baby carrots, scrubbed
3 blood oranges, 2 zested and 1 juiced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp clear honey
2 fennel bulbs, thinly sliced
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 small red onion, finely chopped
large bunch parsley, chopped
70g pack pitted, dry black olives or 85g couchillo (the very small black ones) or Kalamata olives
small pack parsley, chopped (optional)

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and cook the spelt with the stock cube following pack instructions – don’t overcook it, as it should still have a little nutty bite. When the spelt is done, drain it very well and toss on a platter with 1 tbsp of the extra virgin olive oil to stop it from sticking together too much.
Meanwhile, toss the carrots with the olive oil, blood orange zest and some seasoning in a roasting tin, then roast for 15 mins. Carefully stir through half the honey with the fennel. Continue roasting for another 10 mins, then cool for 5 mins. Cut away the pith and peel from the 2 zested oranges, then roughly chop or slice.
Whisk together the remaining extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp honey, red wine vinegar and the blood orange juice with some seasoning. Scrape the roasted carrots and fennel plus any cooking juices on top of the spelt, along with the orange chunks, red onion, herbs and olives. Drizzle over the dressing and toss everything together well. The salad will happily hold at room temperature for a few hours, but the spelt will soak up the dressing – so if you’re making it ahead, add half the dressing when assembling and stir through the rest just before you serve it. As you serve, stir through the parsley, if you like.