Animal Writings

Beet Encore Performance
I would be remiss if I didn't include a beet salad in the beet section of this series. I chose Bryanna's Arugula and Beet Salad with Balsamic Dressing and Walnuts, by famous chef Bryanna Clark Grogan. (On the linked page, scroll down to the fifth beet recipe.) Although I took more of an Oliver Stone approach, basing my version loosely on the original.

I was pressed for time, and probably came nowhere close to doing justice to Chef Bryanna's creation. But I figured I'd report on my makeshift efforts anyway, to show how even a jury-rigged facsimile of a recipe can often produce entirely worthwhile results.


Beet Fact
Some day, you might pick up a can of whole beets by mistake, when what you really wanted was sliced beets. That's ok, they will pretty much work the same.
Basically, I paid scant attention to quantities, since a) I was only making one salad, b) I didn't want to mess with measuring cups. Usually arugula—the green in the salad—is not hard to find in my area, or any place except for real small towns. If you don't find it outright, you might find it in a mix. I couldn't find it at the nearby Whole Foods, and I didn't have time to go to another store, so I picked up one of our bunny's favorite mixtures, the escarole, endive, and radicchio combo from Ready Pac. It has a somewhat bitter, tart taste, as does arugula, so I figured it would make an acceptable substitute. You can start to see the pattern: Sweet beets are very often paired with something tangy, anti-sweet.

I laid down a bed of greens. Slicing the beets into thin julienne strips literally took a few seconds. I placed enough beet strips so that it looked like I would get some beet in every forkful of salad. I did the same with the walnuts. I bought "walnut halves and pieces." Close enough. Toasted walnuts, as called for in the recipe, would have undoubtedly added more flavor to the salad. I recommend adding the apple slices. In many stores, you can buy apple already sliced up. I bought a Fuji apple, and used about a quarter of it. Hint: if cut apple will be sitting around for more than 30 seconds, give it a squirt of lemon juice so that it doesn't turn brown. Or take Bryanna's advice and put the apple in some water into which a little lemon juice has been added.

I didn't have time to make balsamic vinegar dressing, even though it wouldn't have taken long. I used Raspberry-Hazelnut Balsamic Vinaigrette, from the good people at Wishbone. It worked well.

The salad was quite tasty, even though it probably paled against the original. The sweetness of the beets, apple, and raspberry (in the dressing), the bitterness of the greens and the vinegar (again, in the dressing), and the meatiness of the walnuts combined for a nice multi-flavor sensation in the mouth. Looked pretty, too. It took less than 5 minutes to make.

The thing is, even when you throw a salad together, most likely you're going to end up with something you like, and which is a cut above anything you'd get out of a bag. Often, just the addition of one or two off-the-beaten-path ingredients can make all the difference.

OK, we're really done with beets this time.


Trivia Question
What Sonny and Cher tune am I thinking of?

Labels: beets, cooking, diet, salads, vegetables