Badass Beet Salad!

God I love beets. Beets were one of those childhood foods that I encountered rarely, mushily, and in disgusting ways. Luckily for me I spent my young adulthood with a band of fiddle playing gypsies who subsisted entirely on root vegetables.

Under the tutelage of the wizened Grandma Marin I learned the mysterious ways of the beet- its versatility, the range of varieties, the multitudes of complimentary textures that can be coaxed from them.

Yes, I’m a dirty liar. No gypsies, no Grandma Marin, very little fiddle playing. Regardless, at some point along the way I did develop a keen appreciation for the oft-scorned beet.

Little bundles of them have been filling the markets for the past couple of months so I’ve had lots of opportunities to play. I just wanted to take a minute and share my most recent favorite beet assemblage.

It’s a salad with raw, thin sliced, candy cane beets from Milagro Farms. (Kris and Amy do a hell of a job out there and I can’t wait ‘til their tomato crop is ready this year!)

The salad also has orange zest, little orange supremes, goat cheese from Pure Luck Dairy and roasted edamame from Austinuts. I dressed it with the juice left over from cutting the orange, a little extra lemon juice for zip, some good olive oil, and a bit of fresh cracked black pepper.

So delicious. And you totally feel like Popeye after you eat it. You can practically feel the vitamins, minerals and micronutrients flooding your system. You’re all like, “I am Beet Man! Eater of raw beets! Tremble before me and feel my sugary sweet, vegetably wrath!” Or that could just be me. And yes I know Popeye ate spinach. Geez.

Anyway, this amount served six as one of a couple of starters, or four if you have less food.

• 3 medium beets, sliced 1/16th to 1/8th inch thick (love your mandolin) 
• 1 orange, zested and then supremed, juices reserved
• ¼ cup roasted or steamed edamame 
• 2 oz. soft goat cheese 
• 2 T. extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 T. Lemon juice 
• salt and pepper

Whisk the reserved orange juice, lemon juice and a pinch of salt together until salt dissolves. Continue to whisk while drizzling in olive oil.

Toss beets with dressing.

Arrange all of the remaining ingredients on a platter and top with extra dressing and fresh black pepper as desired. Eat.

-L. Pants

Milagro Farm 

504 Bartsch Ln., Red Rock, TX 78662 

Kris and Amy Olsen 512-321-4312

Comments

[Ling]

That is SUCH a beautiful photo!! Beets are so good for you - we have them every morning in a juice mix, except for Sunday when we have a serious egg and home-made bacon fry-up :D

[Jeremy]

Indeed - I was going to say "beautiful", but since Ling beet me to it, I'll fall back on describing it as beatific!

[Logan @ Boots in the Oven]

Ling- beets are a big favorite around here too. I'm glad to see you keep some balance on Sundays though : )

Coz- Puns? Don't you have a kid to raise now. Think of the children!

[Su-Lin]

Wow.... that's just gorgeous! I've never been a beet fan but I've never tried them raw before.

[adeeba]

badass recipe! i too, am a beet-lover! here is a post i did on beets for lunch:

http://crumbsonmyface.blogspot.com/2009/04/beets.html

[Ling]

You know, now that I think about it, those slices of beet resemble slices of this pink-and-white Japanese fishcake: http://1tess.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/narutomaki_3446.jpg

Kinda psychedelic, actually! :D

Ling

[Logan @ Boots in the Oven]

Su-Lin- Definitely try them raw! Look for smaller ones and slice them real thin. The golden ones are super sweet and tasty.

Adeeba- Thanks. I like the beet sandwich idea, it hadn't occured to me but it makes perfect sense.

Ling- I'm feeling a beet and fishcake fryup!

[Olga @ MangoTomato]

saw this on The Kitchn. Gorgeous! Love beets and oranges together. The variety you used is just beautiful.