Mar 26 2010
Beetroot Salad
Anyone make a really great beetroot salad? When I spent a summer in France in 2004, I discovered that my enjoyment of beetroot could extend beyond one recipe and one alone (coming soon to a blog near you, I hope). This was an important discovery; prior to this I had rather avoided it on menus and certainly never cooked with it. Now it is one of my favourite veggies.
The recipe which changed everything for me was a simple beetroot salad; cooked beetroot (from your garden or a packet, whatever is possible) finely diced and mixed with loads of garlic, and dressed as a salad. I have tried to recreate this several times myself and yet feel I am missing something. Perhaps it is just that the original salad was eaten on a scorchingly hot day; that it was made by someone else, not me; that I probably had a beer in my hand as I ate it; I might even have spent the afternoon surfing flailing about on a surf board and building up an appetite. At the very least I was somewhere else and that can do amazing things for flavours.Nevertheless I wonder if there’s a simple fix. Do I use too much garlic? Should I use a different kind of vinegar? No vinegar at all? Is there anyone out there who can help me?
Well, I have just made a beetroot thing (not really a salad) and observed that, as beetroot go, it was a relatively tasteless one. So that’s one possible variable.
Also, a *really* tasty olive oil can make a huge difference… I think. I am always impressed how tasty oils can be when eating out, and feel that the home oil is lacking in some way. Have yet to find the perfect salad olive oil, though.
I’d be tempted to roast the beetroot slowly, to caramelise the juices just a wee bit. I’d then dress it with a honey vinaigrette: not too sweet, but just enough to add a contrast to the tang of the vinegar. Maybe just a touch of orange juice as well, again to add that sharp/sweet contrast.
Man, I love beetroot …
oh oh that does sound good!
love your blog – great pictures with fab looking food! How is old Leith these days? Other half used to stay there when we started going out – nice part of town.
cheers Caroline- sorry, despite Dougal noticing it, your comment got caught in a spam-trap.
Leith is just grand thank you. On the up, as the estate agents say, although a bit caught up in Edinburgh’s tram works at the moment- a great many holes in the ground but not any obvious sign of completion!