cooking without fear
Just give me a beet
And I’ll bring the heat
After an hour, it gets real sweet
Fennel’s a treat
And blue cheese I’ll eat
Sure, call me elite
But this dish is replete
It’s one I’ll repeat
Next time with penne, I’ll call it complete
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This salad, while hearty and delicious, was especially satisfying to me because of how much thought I put behind it. It might sound silly to some, but I spent two days thinking about just how exactly to use the first fresh beet I ever bought.
I knew I wanted a roasted beet salad. I had some asparagus and fennel in the fridge — either of which would have paired well with beets. I went back and forth between the two, considering a dozen vinaigrettes in the process. Balsamic? Citrus? Red or white wine vinegar? What fresh herbs would I use? What about cheese? Shaved parmesan? Crumbled bleu or goat cheese?
I couldn’t decide, so I put off the salad and picked up a grilled sausage sandwich for dinner instead.
The next morning I woke up to rain. Ok, roasted beets and asparagus it is, I thought. As I pondered the cheese question again, it hit me — what about a poached egg instead? People do that with salads or asparagus all the time. Would it work with beets? Why not? Aussies put beets and fried egg on their burgers. I searched recipes online to see if anyone else had done a beet and asparagus salad with poached egg. I didn’t see anything exactly like it, but this salad with golden beets and an egg convinced me I was on the right track and inspired my vinaigrette choice. Cook and Eat’s red wine-prosciutto vinaigrette made me think of Craig Cyr’s warm bacon dressing I’d made and loved before.
It all came together in my head at that point: I’d start with arugula, a peppery green that is as far as I can go on the bitter scale (frisee, endive and others aren’t for me). Then sweet roasted beets and tender asparagus would be drizzled with a warm vinaigrette made with red wine vinegar, pancetta, green onions, chives, honey and olive oil. To top it all off, a poached egg and black pepper.
The result was everything I hoped it would be.
Oh, and fresh roasted beets? Where have you been all my life? Same with poached eggs. I was silly ever to have had aversions to either in the past.