Bright Pink Salad

Friday night, I faced a bowl of beets. I had roasted them a few days before on a kitchen binge, knowing I would be more likely to eat them if they were ready to go in the fridge.

I didn't have any grand plans for them, but Adam and I needed a snack before heading out for the evening, so I began to construct a salad of things I had around. Here is half a small red spring-sweet onion, sliced thinly.

There was a small block of feta in the cheese drawer, so I added that for tang., and handful of roughly chopped parsley for contrasting color.

Then I noticed the avocado, so ripe and perfect it just had to be used immediately. This is the one ingredient I wasn't sure about, but the cool creaminess was just different enough from the earthy beet flavor that the similar textures didn't fight each other in the bowl.

Finally, a palmful of pistachios for crunch and salt. I squeezed half a lime over the bowl for acidity, then I gave the bowl a gentle toss.

Aaah, beets: nature's paintbrush.

PS. Have you entered my most recent book give-away yet? One more day!


Bright Pink Salad
serves two as a snack or side

1 bunch beets, roasted* and chopped into bite sized chunks
1/2 small red onion, sliced thin
2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
handful flat-leaf parsley (or cilantro might be nice), chopped
1/2 avocado, diced
handful pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
juice of half a lime

Put beets, onion, feta, parsley, avocado and pistachio in a bowl, squeeze lime juice over all. Toss gently, then taste, add more lime if necessary.

*To roast beets: Preheat oven to 350F. Scrub beets and remove scraggly root ends and greens (reserve greens for another use). Do not peel (it will be easier once they're cooked), but quarter large beets, halve if small. In a large piece of heavy duty aluminum foil, toss the the beets with 3-4 Tablespoons olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Use your hands to be sure all pieces are coated, but then don't touch anything, because you'll have pink beet juice all over you and that. stuff. stains. Fold the edges of the foil over to form a packet, place packet on a cookie sheet in case of leaks, and bake for an hour. After an hour, carefully open the packet to let some steam escape, then return it to the oven for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool, then using a paper towel, slide skins off beets. Store in the fridge with any accumulated juices and remaining oil until ready to use. Beets will keep, roasted about 5 days.