Beetroot, Butter, Pomegranate Salad

Beetroot, Butter, Pomegranate Salad

Whew! It's been a while! And I've even been cooking (three recipes in the to-be-blogged file). So accept a few posts in short succession, if possible. What have I been doing, you ask? A whirlwind trip to Los Angeles, another show and some family medical issues (everyone's fine now and the vegetarian and I are both home).


Several weeks ago, just before we to LA, I had a few beetroots hanging out in the fridge, left over from the butter borshch. As I've mentioned, the vegetarian is not such a huge fan of beets, so I decided that a side dish (which he wouldn't necessarily eat) would be the best bet. It was warm out that day and we were tired after spending the afternoon preparing for LA so I didn't want to cook more than necessary. And I wanted something fresh-tasting. Janna Gur's The Book of New Israeli Food provided the inspiration I needed. The beets would become a salad, then, dressed with pomegranate concentrate, cilantro and some pomegranate seeds.


But, since I knew the vegetarian would eat the majority of the other meal components, I wanted to make the salad a little more substantial. On the internet, I found a Herring with Potato and Beetroot Salad. While interesting, I wasn't going to go about cooking herring, especially since I would be the only one eating them. And I had no potatoes. But what really caught my eye about the recipe was the dressing for the beetroots: melted butter! So melted butter replaced the olive oil and I had a fresh, sweet salad for dinner and several lunches as well. Enjoy!


Beetroot, Butter, Pomegranate Salad
adapted from The Book of New Israeli Food and CookEatShare

• 3 red beets
• 2 tablespoons pomegrante juice concentrate
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 chiles de arbol, dried and crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
• 1 cup pomegranate seeds
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add beets and cook for 45 minutes, until tender. When cool enough to handle, slide off peels and dice. Transfer to a large bowl and add pomegranate juice concetrate, lemon juice, chiles and salt. Let marinate 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt butter for about 10 seconds in microwave. Next, stir cilantro and pomegranate seeds into beet mixture. Pour melted butter on top. Serves 6.

Make it a meal: If, like me, you're feeding someone who's not very fond of beets, make sure your other 

Beets, Buckwheat, Black Beans, Cserzsegi Fuzseres

dishes can be a meal in themselves. I recommend buckwheat cooked simply with salt and black beans cooked with cumin. Mix both together and sprinkle with cilantro and pomegranate seeds. If your beets came with greens, steam them for 7 minutes over the boiling beets and add to buckwheat and black beans. To drink, I recommend gewurtztraminer or a Hungarian cserszegi fuszeres. Bon appetit!

Links to other beetroot pomegranate salad noshes:

• Beetroot and Carrot Raw Salad from A Life (Time) of Cooking
• Golden Beet and Pomegranate Salad from Simply Recipes
• Beetroot and Pomegranate Tabbouleh from Green Gourmet Giraffe
• Bulgur, Celery and Pomegranate Salad from 101 Cookbooks