Saturday, July 16, 2011

beet salad and cucumber raita

I love beets. With a little balsalmic, olive oil, flat leaf parsley, and some good old salt and pepper, it's easy to make a delicious salad - especially nice on a hot day! It was in the mid-90s earlier this week, so a beet salad and some cool raita were just what I needed after a long day at work.

beet salad
serves 2


2 cups beets, chopped into 1.5 inch pieces, boiled for 10-15 minutes, and peeled
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup goat or cow's milk feta (optional - I didn't have any this time, but it turned out fine without it!)
salt and pepper to taste

Combine ingredients in a medium bowl. Toss. Enjoy!

yogurt-cucumber sauce (raita)*
adapted from Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food. serves 2-4


3/4 c. full-fat yogurt (I used Fage, a really delicious Greek yogurt)
1 small cucumber, diced (see the photo)
2 tsp coriander seed, ground in a spice grinder
2 tsp garlic scapes
salt and pepper to taste

put the diced cucumbers in a small bowl, sprinkle with about half a tsp of salt, and let sit for 10 minutes.


combine the remaining ingredients (below) and stir. add the cucumbers and stir again. add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.























*This was more raita than I needed, so the next day I added about 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice and 2-3 tbsp olive oil and turned it into a dressing for my salad. It was delicious!

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