Serious Eats: Recipes
Dinner Tonight: Roasted Beet Salad
At the Logan Square Farmers' Market in Chicago recently, I came across yellow beets and was told they are sweeter than regular red ones. Whether that's true or not, I was sold. I just had to think of how to cook them. Originally, I wanted to make a nice cool borscht, but was sidetracked by this recipe from One Spice, Two Spice by Floyd Cardoz. The book advertises "American food with Indian flavor," and this is the first recipe I found under the 10-ingredient count. Perfect.
The original recipe calls for salt cod, which I skipped early on. Don't get me wrong, I'm cool with salt cod. But I had everything else ready-to-go at home and didn't feel like tracking down the fish. So this functions more as a side than a full meal, and that was fine by me. I've only really had beets with traditional Italian ingredients, so it was nice to see the vegetable's versatility.
About the author: Nick Kindelsperger is a co-founder of The Paupered Chef, a blog dedicated to saving time and money while enjoying food in every way possible. He sells wine for a living and lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Roasted Beet Salad
Adapted from One Spice, Two Spice by Floyd Cardoz.
- serves 2 to 3 -
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds beets, stems removed and washed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1 Serrano chile, seed and thinly chopped
1 teaspoon minced ginger
2 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
pinch of sugar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Sprinkle the beets with salt and a tablespoon of the olive oil. Wrap in aluminum foil, leaving a little hole in the top facing up, and set in a roasting pan. Cook until easily pierced with a knife, about 45 minutes or until very tender.
2. Meanwhile, mix together the rest of the olive oil, red onion, Serrano, ginger, cilantro, sugar, and red wine vinegar.
3. When beets are done and cool enough to handle, peel and chop into 1/2 inch pieces.
4. Mix with the rest of the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.