How About Giving Beets the Star Treatment?
Taking a break from my Thanksgiving planning and preparations, I had a couple bunches of beets and decided to really go to town and make them the focus of the meal, rather than the side dish. Roasted beets don’t need much in order to be delicious. A little vinegar, salt, and pepper did the trick. I used calamansi vinegar .*
I’ve been singing the praises of this vinegar for years and for good reason. It is like no other vinegar you will ever taste. It’s so brightly flavored with calamansi (a citrus fruit) that it can be used all by itself in many different ways. From drizzling a little on a bowl of berries to adding a few drops to cocktails, its uses are so varied as to be almost limitless. But if you don’t have it on hand, you can use a white balsamic vinegar or other mild sweet vinegar.
I then stirred thinly sliced red onions into the bowl of beets and spooned all of this onto a bed of farro .* If you’ve never eaten farro ,* I highly recommend you give it a try. It’s an ancient grain that I particularly like. There is a distinct nuttiness to its flavor that I thought would work well with the beets and I love how its chewy texture never turns mushy.
It’s easy to cook, you simply rinse it, cook it in a pot of boiling water for about a half hour, drain it, and spread it on a sheet pan to cool. Right before serving it, I stirred in a little olive oil and seasoned it with salt and pepper.
I made a quick sauce of plain whole milk yogurt, to which I added a small grated garlic clove, the minced peel of a preserved lemon ,* chipotle chile flakes ,* and a pinch of salt. It’s best to make this right before the beets go in the oven so that the flavors have time to meld.
So far, so good. But I wasn’t quite done. From past experience with cooking Ottolenghi and Nik Sharma recipes, I’ve learned how much a flavor infused oil can impact a dish. Cumin seeds * and black mustard seeds * are a favorite flavor combination of mine and I knew they’d be welcome in this recipe, so I cooked them, along with a little freshly grated turmeric (dried powdered turmeric can be substituted), in a couple tablespoons of hot olive oil for a only a minute or two, just until the seeds started to pop, and spooned all of it over the top of the yogurt sauce.
Now we were talking. A little chopped parsley finished it off and I served it up. We gobbled it down with warm flatbreads. I know I called this a salad, but I’m not sure that’s how I’d actually describe it. This dish has everything I want in a meal – Tons of flavor, multiple textures, and deeply satisfying. I am not a vegetarian and don’t think on those terms when I plan a meal. I just make and eat what appeals to me and many times the meal won’t include a meat based protein. It’s all about the level of delicious. Yeah, this is definitely my kind of meal. Now it’s time to bake pies for tomorrow. The day before Thanksgiving is one of my favorite cooking days of the year. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
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Beet Farro Salad with Yogurt Sauce and Cumin Oil
6
servingsRoasted beets are served on a bed of farro and topped with a yogurt and preserved lemon sauce. Cumin seeds and black mustard seeds are briefly cooked in hot olive oil and are spooned over the sauce. Talk about delicious!!
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Ingredients
1 1/2 cups plain whole milk yogurt
1 small garlic clove, grated
1 preserved lemon ,* pulp removed and discarded, peel minced
1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile flakes *
2 1/2 pounds beets, scrubbed and trimmed
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 medium size red onion, thinly sliced
Kosher salt
Black pepper
1 tablespoon Calamansi vinegar * or white balsamic vinegar
1 cup farro *
1 teaspoon cumin seeds *
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds *
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh turmeric, finely grated on a microplane, or 1/2 teaspoon powdered turmeric
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400° with a rack in the center.
- Spoon the yogurt into a medium sized bowl. Stir in the grated garlic, preserved lemon peel ,* chipotle flakes ,* and a pinch of salt. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. It is best to make the yogurt sauce at least an hour ahead of time in order to give the flavors time to meld.
- Place the beets on a large sheet of foil, drizzle with a little olive oil. Close the foil up tightly and place on a sheet pan. Roast in the oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of your beets, checking after 1 hour to see if they are tender. Set aside and let cool until only slightly warm. Peel the beets, slice into 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch wedges and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with several pinches of kosher salt, a few grinds of black pepper and drizzle on the Calamansi vinegar .* Stir gently and set aside to cool completely.
- Rinse the farro * in a strainer. Bring a large pot of salted water to boiling. Add the farro, lower the heat to medium high and cook for 30 minutes. Drain the farro and spread it out on a sheet pan to cool. Once cooled, place it in a bowl, add 1 tablespoon olive oil, a pinch of salt, several grinds of black pepper and mix thoroughly. Set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small skillet over medium high heat until hot. Add the cumin seeds ,* black mustard seeds ,* and turmeric. Stir until the black mustard seeds start popping. Remove from the heat.
- A few minutes before serving, stir the sliced onions into the bowl of beets. Spoon the seasoned farro onto a large platter, top with the beets and onions, spoon on the yogurt sauce, and drizzle with the infused oil and seeds. Scatter on the parsley, serve, and Enjoy!