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| Beautiful beet salad with greens and truffle oil |
I started this morning with a roasted a pile of fresh beets from the Phoenix Farmers Market that I bought this weekend. Half of them are for my Mom, who prefers it if I roast them for her. "You do it better," she says. I think she's just trying to keep her oven off in this heat.
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| Italian Truffle Oil, a special treat |
So, like the good daughter that I am, I roasted them all. I saved hers to the side and wondered what to do with mine. Then it him me, why not use the greens and make a salad? Simple...
Then I remembered that my lovely sister bought a bottle of truffle oil for me when she visited Italy recently. I don't use it that often, I just don't want to use it all. But I adore the earthy aroma and flavor when it's drizzled over salads or bread. I know it can be quite expensive and not many people have it sitting in their cupboards, I never did till she gave it to me. But if you can find some, try. If not, olive oil is just as nice and gives a lighter flavor. Make sure you have some good, extra virgin olive oil.
Roasted Beet Salad with Truffle Oil
2 fresh beets, roasted and refrigerated
1 bunch of fresh beet greens, washed and dry
3-4 yellow baby tomatoes
1/2 tsp truffle oil (or olive oil)
salt/pepper
1. Roast the beets the night before, or at least put them in the fridge for about an hour so they can cool off. I roast mine at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes.
2. Wash, drain, and pat dry the beet greens, then chop them.
3. Chop beets into bite-sized pieces.
4. Mix greens and beets in the bowl with the tomatoes, salt/pepper.
5. Drizzle just a touch of truffle oil over the salad and mix.
The truffle oil is the best part. It gives the salad a warm, earthy flavor. The greens are slightly bitter and crunchy while the beets are sugary and carmelized, making this a wonderful contrast. The truffle oil just brings this up a notch higher. Don't overuse the oil, or salt and pepper. Lightness is the key here, you want a summer, refreshing salad.
What do you do with your beets? I'm still looking for more ideas. Let me know.
Enjoy!
1 comment:
My e-mail friend makes a gluten-free beet cake. I haven't personally tried it, but she says it tastes really good, a lot like carrot cake.
Me personally, nobody in my house except me and my three-year-old like beets, so I usually serve them as a side dish. If I am going to mix them into a dish, I use golden or Chioggia beets so that they don't dye everything beet-red, since my family won't eat food that looks like that. Sigh. I have a recipe somewhere for roasted root veggies with pasta and olives. I can look it up and post it if you'd like. Beets star really well in that recipe.
I have some Chioggia beets growing in my garden right now. I've never succeeded at growing beets before; I can't wait to dig them up and see if it worked. :)
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