Raw Beet Salad

I tried to get scale here!

I am home with the windows open, listening to my neighbor's bluegrass band - they are all crammed on the porch, upright bass, fiddle and all - thankfully they are good. The warm weather makes me want cold salads of things other than lettuce. Today's recipe (last night's dinner) features Lutz beets. Which, btw, are STILL local at the Seward. They are these ginormous beets (the photo is of a relatively small one) that are really sweet tasting and a beautiful red with some pink inside (the other beets are from CA). I buy one at the co-op each week to become beet kvass, breakfast, and now beet salad. This is totally refreshing, simple, and good. It's a Mark Bittman recipe, and I kept it as is except to add some toasted walnuts. As is his usual, there are many variations on it, so you can use half carrots plus ginger, or put in cabbage and orange (see his link above) for a different, but same, sort of salad. I love that about Mark Bittman's recipes, although I don't own any of his cookbooks to really make use of it!

Speaking of cookbooks, I just got a cookbook from the library (after seeing it at Moon Palace Books) that turned out to be excellent: Odd Bits by Jennifer McLagan. It's all about using animal parts (brains, kidneys, feet, udders, etc) with lots of recipes and really nice directions about how to prepare these odd bits, as well as some helpful information about what it might taste like and why much of Europe still considers these pieces delicacies. It's straight forward and made me feel less squeamish about getting a whole pig head, for example. The fact that it makes me want to try pig head at all is pretty great. So. I recommend her book - I'm even thinking about buying it, and I have not bought a cookbook in over 5 years or something crazy. For sure not since I was a wheat eating vegetarian!

Anyway - back to beet salad.

1 to 11/2 pounds beets, peeled
2 large shallots, minced
1 sprig tarragon, minced (opt)
1/4 c chopped parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp Dijon mustard, or to taste
1 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T sherry or other good strong vinegar
1/4 c toasted walnuts

1. Shred/julienne beets in a food processor or with a mandoline. Mix with shallots, parsley, and tarragon (mine was dried).
2. Toast walnuts on a dry cast iron skillet on medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring often.
3. Mix remaining ingredients for a dressing. I was out of mustard so used mustard powder, and it was still good. Pour dressing over beets, and toss walnuts on top.

This salad was even better for lunch the next day.