Beet and Avocado Salad
Behold, Beta vulgaris, better known as the mighty beet! Beets are another one of those tasty things that I’ve enjoyed a thousand ways dining out, but haven’t ventured to try cooking them at home.
According to Wikipedia, beets are old. Way old. Second millennium BC old. And it can also be used to make wine (sounds like a bad idea to me). They’re also rich in vitamins and nutrients. And delicious. What’s not to love?
Some tips on beets from The Worldwide Gourmet:
Buying
Avoid buying beets with slightly wrinkled skin, a sign that they are starting to dry out.Smaller roots are more tender - avoid any larger than about 2 1/2” in diameter as they may have tough, woody cores.
Storing
Beets will keep for a long time in a cold room or refrigerator once the leaves have been cut off at the collar level.
Of course, like usual, I didn’t actually read any of these tips before we ventured to the farmer’s market, but still did pretty well, though I think a couple of our beets were larger than 2 1/2″. I also completely spaced out and forgot to take the “before” photo of the beets.
The inspiration of this dish comes from JCT Kitchen, an excellent restaurant in Atlanta. They offer a Roasted Beet and Avocado Salad, with Thomasville Goat Cheese and Pistachios. I couldn’t remember all the components from the salad, but I was going to wing it: oven roasted beets, avocado, small dice of onion, goat cheese, tossed in a white whine vinaigrette.
I started off by heating the oven to 400 degrees F, giving the beets a gentle wash (I had heard if you scrub too hard, the skin comes off, and I’d be peeling them later), wrapping in tin foil, and baking for 60 minutes:
They looked fairly unchanged after removing them from the oven:
I let them rest on the counter for a bit, until they were cool enough to handle, then I sliced off the top and bottom, and peeled the rest, yielding naked roasted beets:
I began to dice the first of the three, when I realized I had way more beet than I was going to need. By a factor of three. Two of them were spared (for the time being), and tossed in a ZipLoc in the fridge. The unlucky beet found itself diced, tossed in a mixing bowl, and put in the freezer to chill (with the salad plates):
The remaining mise en place for the salad:
I chopped half a medium-large onion into a small dice (already done in the photo above, obviously), pulsed about a quarter to a third of a cup of shelled pistachios in the food processor, and cubed one (didn’t need both) avocado (and I did that last, so it could be quickly tossed with the dressing before it would brown).
I also whipped up a quick and simple vinaigrette, with olive oil, white wine vinegar, a pinch of kosher salt, and a pinch of espelette pepper. I combined and gently tossed the ingredients together in the mixing bowl the beets were chilling in:
and served onto chilled plates, forming into a cylinder using some baking rings:
How was it? It was delicious, that’s how it was! We both cleaned our plates.
Pretty simple, and pretty quick (other than beet-baking time, which could be done in advance), but had a great combination of flavors and textures. What would I have changed? I think there was probably too much goat cheese (it melted down a bit when being tossed, and made it look a little sloppy), and I think it could benefit from a bit more acid (probably more of, or a more pronounced vinegar in the dressing), but we both scarfed it down.
Next up? Brussels Sprouts!
Resources: beets from Dupont Circle Freshfarm Market; avocado, onion, goat cheese, pistachios, salt, olive oil and vinegar from Whole Foods; espelette pepper from Amazon.com
Wine: Santa Isabel Malbec, Argentina