A healthy and delicious raw beet salad is a recipe for a more productive day and a longer life. For a Kennedy-quality legacy, you’re on your own.
Having just spent the past half hour reading about the passing of Edward Kennedy and the deep and sprawling Kennedy family legacy, the question of whether I liked beets as a kid does not register as particularly profound. I didn’t. But now I do. Even raw beets. So does my four-year-old, now that she’s tasted this beet salad. But that’s all I plan to say about that.
I have a feeling you’ll like it, too—especially if your summer, like mine, has been at least as much Kennedian excess as it has been civil rights activism. At least as much. This sweet and savory salad, which comes together in a flash but tastes of depth and complexity, offers all the health benefits of unadulterated beets plus a surprisingly long-burning source of energy. You know, in case you decide to work a little harder on your legacy come Autumn.
Raw Beet Salad with Walnuts and Goat Cheese
-serves 3 as an appetizer or 2 for lunch-
3 smallish raw beets, trimmed and peeled
1/2 small red onion, peeled
1/2 cup toasted, chopped walnuts
1/4 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 shallot, minced
1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar
2 Tablespoons good-quality extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Two good pinches salt
A few good grinds black pepper
4 ounces fresh goat cheese
Cut the beets and onion on the julienne blade of a mandoline, or grate them on a box grater if you don’t have a mandoline. (If you don’t have one, though, you’re really missing out! Perfectly decent ones come fairly cheap at Pearl River Mart.)
Combine the beets, onion, walnuts, orange zest and shallots in a medium bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sherry vinegar, olive oil, mustard, salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently to combine.
Divide the salad onto serving plates and top with crumbled goat cheese.
Update: I’ve just entered this recipe into Mel and Leela’s Beet ‘n Squash You competition, which debuts this month. The contest highlights the beauty of seasonal veggies but doesn’t sacrifice the snark. So, of course, it’s right up my alley. Wish me luck!
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Yum! I always order a raw-beet salad from one of the places near my office. It has a sweet basil dressing, but this one sounds more refreshing!
well C,
for the first time… eva… I actually think I might willingly try beets… well… if you prepare them! LOL!
they look gorgeous and sound delicious (which is an amazing feat … considering I normally don’t even like to look at them, let alone think about eating them!)
Carolyn, this one was a big hit with friends yesterday! I will make it again, and maybe I will even buy a mandoline so I can do it right (but will I wind up in the emergency room?). Sadly, no luck pushing it on my own (soon-to-be — tomorrow!) 4-year-old.
Oh, Layla, I’m so glad you liked it! My mandoline came with a guard, which I use religiously when the pieces get even remotely small. I think even a box grater could send me to the E.R. if it came to it (a serrated butter knife and some rice krispie treats once did, in fact), so I tend to just go for it and say a silent little prayer when I cut. Or step on the treadmill. Or into the shower, really.
Happy birthday to the little one! I can’t believe he’s turning four already.
I love the ode to Teddy via beet salad. But you’re right–they do seem to be the key to a long and healthy life. I’ve been a beet-phobe for most of my life, but now I seem to be making up for lost time. I prefer when, like this salad, they are not the main event, but merely an accent or a garnish to the meal’s center piece. Here is a beet and red onion relish to top a turkey burger I made last week. Come to think of it, your salad might have been the perfect side complement as well!
Lovely. I really like the flavour combinations you’ve got going. I’m going to email this recipe to a raw beet devotee friend of mine. She’ll love it!
I really love goat cheese it is really delicous. Most of the time I eat it as a dessert or use it to make a salsa.
Thank you! It’s hot, I have beets in the fridge, and I don’t feel like cooking… this is perfect.
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