Receta Savory and Spice (and Everything Nice) Raw Beet Salad
Sweet winter beets with some summer heat. This Savory and Spice Golden Beet Salad breaks all the rules. First off I serve the beets raw. I mean who eats raw beets, right? But you can forgive me that rule, because it's a stupid rule. Beets are terrific raw. Roasting beets is a great way to go, sure it is. Roasting really bolsters the natural sugars found it beets. But raw beets have an earthiness that's hard to match, not to mention great crunch appeal.
So forget that rule. It's not the rule I'm talking about. I'm talking about the rule that says: "don't write the recipe and then go buy the ingredients". Nope don't do that. Find the ingredients first and make a recipe around it. That rule is right there on the first page of Food Blogging for Dummies.
The calender says it's winter. But I live in Los Angeles where it never truly looks or feels like winter, so sometimes I forget to be mindful of the season. You see I "wrote" this recipe to include fresh sweet raw corn, tossed with lemon juice, cayenne and oregano. Sounds delicious huh? But decent corn is not to be had. Corn is a summer food. I should know that (I DO know that). It's just I got so excited intellectually by my recipe that I forgot to actually use my intellect.
Which leads to my conundrum. When I got down to the Hollywood Farmers Market yesterday (recipe in hand) I looked around me and all I saw was winter produce: lemons, beets, and picquant winter savory (an herb you should get to know better). It became obvious that my raw sweet salad with a touch of heat was in need of a cool weather makeover. I chose golden beets as a replacement for the corn, because they're yellow. After all, I had already written the recipe and it was a yellow recipe.
Are you thinking TMI, Greg. TMI? GREG
- 4 medium golden beets
- 1 T winter savory leaves, plus more as garnish
- 1 c freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 pn kosher salt
- 1/4 t cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 2 T very good olive oil, or as needed for drizzling
Peel the raw beets. Use a madoline to slice them very thin and uniform. Place beet slices into a bowl along with the savory leaves, lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Add the cayenne pepper and toss to coat well. Set aside until plating time to marinate at room temperature.
When ready to serve drain away most of the lemon juice and divide the slices between 4 salad plates. Drizzle with olive oil and garnish with more savory leaves to taste