Even if you think you don’t like beets you still have to try this salad. I used to hate beets as a kid. My mom made me eat canned cooked ones that were mushy. Raw beets are totally different. Think crisp like a carrot. You definitely need a mandolin to get the paper thin slices. Thicker slices would be hard to chew without cutting them up further on your plate.
Sorry, the white balance of these pictures is horrible, but I don’t have time to fix it right now. The bright red slices make the other images look sickly. It really is a pretty salad when color corrected.
Definitely buy shelled pistachios. It’s not worth it to shell them by hand.
I first had this salad at Schmidt’s german restaurant in SF. They used the yellow and white beets which were really good, but I couldn’t find these at the farmer’s market or grocery store. I loved the salad so I decided to recreate at home with a few changes, mainly adding arugula to fill us up for lunch.
Ingredients:
makes 8 servings
- 2- bags arugula
- 6-8 beets (sliced on mandolin), can be any color (red, yellow, white)
- shelled pistachios
Dressing:
- juice from 1 lemon
- ~1/2 cup of olive oil
Beets are used raw. First cut off stems. Peel beets by chopping off the tops and bottoms. Then with a flat side down on the cutting board, run knife along rounded edges to take off peel. Slice peeled beets on madoline set to thinnest setting. If using red beets you may want to wear gloves. Be aware of cutting boards and counters that can also stain.
Toss ingredients with dressing.
