Skip to main content

Winter Raw Beet Salad #KitchenMatrixCookingProject


Today we're moving ahead with our year-long project that I'm calling the Kitchen Matrix Project, after Mark Bittman's Kitchen Matrix cookbook. You can read about it: here. I'm very excited about the dishes and the bloggers who are joining me.

This week, I picked 'Raw Beets + 3 Ways' for the group which means we could make raw beets with sherry vinaigrette, raw beets with creamy dill dressing, and borscht salad...along with any variations or adaptations that we needed or wanted.


While all were intriguing - and I will make all of them - I opted to try Mark Bittman's Raw Beets with Sherry Vinaigrette. Here's what the crew is sharing this week. I added shaved fennel and supremed oranges for a larger, dinner-sized salad. Also, since Jake and I are currently staying away from sugar, I couldn't use the prepared mustard in our fridge. I swapped it out for ground mustard. Yum!



Ingredients

  • 1 pound organic, raw beets
  • 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and shaved
  • 2 organic oranges, supremed
  • 1 minced shallot
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
  • 2 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar
  • chopped fresh herbs (I used parsley and a little bit of lavender) + more for garnish

Procedure

Peel and grate the beets. Place them in a large mixing bowl. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil, sherry vinegar, ground mustard, and fresh herbs.


To serve layer shaved fennel and supremed oranges on a plate. Spoon the beet salad on top of the oranges. Garnish with another sprig of fresh herbs.


Impressions
Does this tell you what we thought? I refrained from licking the plate...just barely. I love the wintery flavors of fennel, orange, and beets. And the dressing was so light and crisp. We will definitely be making this again soon.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hot Chocolate Agasajo-Style {Spice It Up!}

photo by D For my Spice It Up! kiddos this week, I was looking for an exotic drink to serve while we learned about saffron. I found a recipe from food historian Maricel Presilla that mimicked traditional Spanish hot chocolate from the 17th century where it was served at lavish receptions called agasajos . When I teach, I don't always get to shoot photos. Thankfully, D grabbed my camera and snapped a few. Ingredients serves 14-16 1 gallon organic whole milk 3 T dried rosebuds - or 2 t rosewater 2 t saffron threads, lightly crushed 3 T ground cinnamon 3 whole tepin chiles, crushed 2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise 1 C organic granulated sugar 1 lb. bittersweet chocolate Procedure In a large soup pot that can hold a gallon plus, combine milk, dried rosebuds (or rosewater, if you are using that), saffron threads, ground cinnamon, chiles, vanilla beans, and sugar and warm over medium heat till it steams. Whisk to dissolve sugar, then lower heat an...

Frozen Art Gourmet Ice Cream

As we headed inland from the coast, I cringed as the temperature gauge in the car for outside temp climbed into the triple digits. Ugh. I'm a rather wimpy central coastal Californian who begins to wilt when it's 70 degrees outside. Thank goodness for air conditioning and a planned ice cream stop. When I parked the car outside Frozen Art Gourmet Ice Cream in Santa Rosa, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. We knew that we still had to get to the campsite...and set up our tents in the heat. But we were going to enjoy the cool, sweet treats from Frozen Art first! Michoacana ice creameries are the equivalent of Starbucks in Mexico; they're ubiquitous. Purists, however, claim that operating a true Michoacana ice cream shop require ties to Tocumbo. It's estimated that almost ninety percent of the Tocumban population is currently employed in the ice cream business from making ice cream itself to making equipment. But the real art of Tocumban ice creams: imaginat...

A Cheese Board Anchored on a Trio of Italian Cheeses + A Pinot Nero from Alto Adige #ItalianFWT on CulinaryCam.Com

I am in the process of migrating over to my new domain. Come on over to read " A Cheese Board Anchored on a Trio of Italian Cheeses + A Pinot Nero from Alto Adige " for December's #ItalianFWT.