Beet Salad: Simplicity at its best!

An Alice Waters recipe.


                                                          Beet Salad

Alice Waters. Synonymous with the organic food movement. Restaurateur. Proprietor of the famous Berkeley, CA restaurant, Chez Panisse. 2013 will be the year I visit her establishment!

Our daughter likes to give me a hard time whenever Chez Panisse is brought up in conversation, ever since I posted on FB that I cannot wait to visit this restaurant because of their rule of no electronic devices (cell phones/laptops) are allowed in the restaurant; this is printed on the menu itself. Ruins the ambiance. This is one of my all-time pet peeves - cell phones at the table.

She asks, "That's why you want to visit Chez Panisse? For the no cell phone rule? What about the world renowned food?"

Yes it's about the food, but also for "the rule". If only more restaurants would implement this policy.

What ever happened to wanting a meaningful engagement with family or friends with no interruptions? I'm not talking about checking the time (people are not wearing watches anymore) or if the babysitter has called. But is it so important to know that so-and-so is blowing milk out of his/her nose or what they are having to eat at the moment? Take an hour or so from electronics and enjoy real life a bit - you just may enjoy it.

Can this be any simpler? Beets. Vinegar. Oil. Salt. No, I don't think it can. I toyed with the idea of adding some fresh thyme - I love thyme. But being an Alice Waters recipe I thought I should try it as written first.

We (the husband & I) purchased the most beautiful beets from the farmer's market this past weekend. He adores beets. Originally I was going to make a raw beet and carrot slaw, but I used up all the carrots in the chicken noodle soup I made to soothe the nasty cold he came down with. The slaw will have to wait for our next visit to the farmer's market.

I typed in "simple beet salad" in Google search and came up with the recipe here. I'm thinking this can be made even tastier by tossing the warm beets with the vinaigrette and letting them marinate for a few hours.

Success meter (1-3): 3

If you don't want the red beets to mar the golden beets, bake them separately.

The carrots used in the soup.

I tossed the beats with the vinaigrette seperately so the red beets would not "bleed" into the golden beets.

You can see the red beets seeped their color into the golden beets since I baked and stored them in the same dish (I baked them the day before).

Toss the beets together just before serving.

Chicken Noodle Soup

(Future post.)

You can find the beet salad recipe here.