Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Beetroot salad full of vitamins

All responsible Estonians* went to the polls last Sunday to elect 101 representatives to our national parliament, Riigikogu (unless they had cast their vote on the world's first parliamentary e-elections earlier, that is). To mark the occasion, K. and I had invited some friends over on Sunday night to feast on the cheese (toma della valle, toma al peperoncino and robiola rustica) and ham (la coppa, salami rustico, lardo di Arnad, bresaola, and mocetta) we had brought back from our Italian skiing-holiday, while watching the election results on the telly. During the five-hour eating, chatting and TV-watching session, we enjoyed the antipasti I had made during the day, and the tiramisu (K's first attempt, and very good one at that). There was plenty of food, though not much left over (we were 16 people plus kids, after all).

As always, after a night of lots of food, we took it easy on the following day. On Monday night I made this really light and simple beetroot salad for dinner, followed by the last two pieces of tiramisu. As there are lots of flu bugs around at the moment, we added plenty of vitamin-rich spring onions and parsley to the iron-packed beetroot, and added some balsamic vinegar to complement the inherent sweetness of this root vegetable so often and unjustly neglected by people.. We ate the salad with a slice of toasted ciabatta, but it would also make a lovely side dish to grilled meat or fish.

(And yes, it's natural light, in the late afternoon. The winter is finally on the way out, even if there's still snow outside ...)

Beetroot salad full of vitamins
(Peedisalat ürtidega)
Serves 2



2 beetroots, boiled
2 spring onions
a large handful of parsley
2-3 tsp balsamic vinegar
Maldon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Peel the beetroot and cut into small cubes. Chop the spring onions (both green and white parts) and parsley, add to the beetroot. Season with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly to combine.
Serve.

* That's 62 per cent of our population, if election turnout is an indicator:)

UPDATE 15.3.2007. Check out this rendition of my beetroot salad, courtesy of Sara of Sara ex machina

13 comments:

Mia said...

Isn't the light WONDERFUL? (Except when it highlights all the nose prints the cats have left on my windows, that is.) Your beetroot salad looks so wonderful I can almost feel the sweet/earthy smell of cooked beets...

We have elections coming up this month, too. Oh joy.

Brilynn said...

I love beetroot, but people don't eat it very much here.

K and S said...

This salad looks refreshing after a night of noshing, I love beets!

Anonymous said...

I'm sure it tastes great, but doesn't look patriotic enough!

Ruudi said...

Oo, hea idee, mul oligi just vaja ùht peediretsepti, et oma raseda vere rauasisaldust tòsta enne kui nad mulle mingied tablette mààravad... Ning just tàna mòtlesin kussjuures peedi peale..

Andrew said...

It's gloriously sunny and spring like here today - so a spring-like dish such as this is certainly on the menu. Have beetroot but no parsley... bum...

neil said...

Your salad is so behaving and not leaching all over the plate, nice job. Beetroots are a firm favourite in our house, I love the version with horseradish.

Susan from Food Blogga said...

I just bought beetroot and have all of the ingredients for your recipe. I will definitely make it. What a lovely photo--great lighting!

Anonymous said...

What a vibrant looking salad! To be honest, I hardly ever eat beetroot...not for anything just that it has never found it's way to my table apart from my grandmother's russian salad. I will definitely give this veg a try! :)

Chris said...

Beets...yum! I just made a beet and pear salad which was quite tasty - but then again, what isn't tasty when it comes to beets?

Shaun said...

Pille - I love beet salads. One of my favorites involves grated roasted beets, grated apple, and grated horseradish all combined. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And who doesn't fall for that gorgeous purply-pink? Your salad looks wonderful - as does everything you make.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, Pille, for not having commented for quite a while (but I do keep an eye on your blog).

As for the election, I have heard about it in the news and I feel like telling how much I admire Estonia for its high standing approach towards the use of the computer and considering it as a basic right for everybody. We Middle Europeans sometimes still consider ourselves as privileged for having been on THIS (Western) side of the Iron Curtain, but I have to admit (and I personally feel very happy about this) that soon we will "have to" learn from formerly "Eastern" (in political sense) countries, they are already taking over us. And I feel so pleased that all our countries are together in the European Community, we can learn so much from each other.

Yes, beetroots ! I also love them.

A happy weekend to the two of you, angelika

Pille said...

Deinin - I agree. I cannot wait for June, as it's been years since I was up here in the North during Summer Solstice!

Brilynn - it's a pity, as beetroot is so lovely and so good for you.

K&S - well, we cannot feast (I'm talking about quantities here) every day, so an occasional beetroot salad night is on order:)

Roxy - I'll make a blue-black-white tricolore salad especially for you next year:)

Ruudi - mul ka tulevad peedihood peale kevaditi, kui väsimus kimbutab. Aga jah, raseda rauasisalduse tõstmiseks sobib see ka muidugi.

Andrew - chives or dill would work, too!

Neil - yes, the mayonnaise and grated beetroot, either with garlic (loads!) or horseradish, is wanderful!

Susan - did you try it?

Joey - I've got loads of recipes using beetroot, which I hope to blog about soon, so come back for inspiration:)

Chris - I haven't tried beets with pears, but my boyfriend has been raving about beetroot and watermelon salad he had in Egypt a while ago. Both sound interesting.

Shaun - thank you for your kind words:) I'll add grated apples to the beetroot and horseradish salad next time - thanks for the tip!

Angelika - no worries, I know you've been busy with redecorating your kitchen. We're pretty proud about our Tiger Leap (that's how our internet usage & national IT programme is called), but then Estonia is a small enough country for such social test studies:)