Thursday, January 8, 2009

Red is all the Rage..

Red Beet and Apple Salad...

Now we're getting into the good stuff.

What?! Your kids eat beets?!! Yup. Mine do. I don't think I can take any credit for it. I just make sure they taste really good and for some reason they eat them. Call me weird. It's okay. Most of the time I am a little off my nut. One of my favorite ways to serve beets, is in a salad. Most beet salads have pickled or fresh beets and some kind of vinaigrette with dill or whatever. I used to make it with sour cream. That was pretty good at masking the dirt taste. A few years ago I found this recipe and have used it ever since. It's got apples and beets in a sweet dressing with some savory chopped mixed nuts...have mercy. No dirt taste anywhere. Love it.

The other day I bought these little beauties...not really winning any "Pretty" contests are they?


I think they are gorgeous, but that's because I know what they are capable of doing...
Once peeled and sliced they look like this. Now we're getting past the nasty exterior, into the ruby red love....



Cover and steam 8-10 minutes on the stove. Medium heat until tender. Cool.

Dressing:
1/4 apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil, I like a light olive for this one.
1 thin sliced green onion
salt and pepper to taste
So combine the dressing in a good size bowl, add the cooked beets and coat well.
Chop 1 large Granny Smith Apple (I'm a little partial to Awesome Washington State for these!)
Mix the apple with the beet mixture. They won't get brown because they take on the color of the beets. Pretty intense red.
Transfer to a serving dish and top with 1/2 cup chopped mixed nuts (mine where roasted with Tuscan herbs).




Tell me...would your kids eat that? It's worth a try! I'm eating it!

Oh yeah! It's gluten free!
Enjoy!

3 comments:

aswesow said...

I want to make "Jacob's pottage" for a potluck on Sunday. It doesn't have to be good...in fact to be authentic it probably shouldn't be good,just o.k. is good, but it does need to be red.
Most sources say it was red because Jacob made it with red lentils, but I don't think so. Red lentils even if you cook them a little bit lose their color...they make the broth a little darker but certainly not red. What else might make a pottage red that would have been available to Jacob? I don't care for beets...is there anything else?

Chef Tess said...

What about a red fruit or berry? Pomegranate juice in with the lentils for a little more color? That would have been available I believe. Most likely it was paprika or a spice of that nature.

aswesow said...

That occured to me...but I think I figured it out.
Genesis 25
29And Jacob boileth pottage, and Esau cometh in from the field, and he [is] weary;

30and Esau saith unto Jacob, `Let me eat, I pray thee, some of this red red thing, for I [am] weary;'

Perhaps Esau didn't say "red red" to emphasise the color. Maybe he said it that way because he was second guessing himself! Red?? red.
Maybe he was color blind, and Jacob knowing what Esau meant didn't bother to correct him. Anyways...it opens up the possibilities for my pottage!