Red Salad
A few weeks ago my brother sent me a salad from a restaurant in their area. They sent over a basket of goodies, which included vegan ice cream, a selection of vegan pies and a beetroot and butternut salad. Wow, I can’t say that I was interested in the beetroot salad. Cold butternut and beetroot? But I began to think about it and, of course, we eat loads of “cooked” salads, potato salad being one of the most famous and acceptable.
After some deliberation I tried the salad, and OMG, it was incredible : crunchy, salty, flavourful and delicious. Immediately, I wanted to try to immulate the salad for my own table. So, I looked, closely, at the combination of ingredients and tasted the dressing, again and again to get an idea. The dressing was tart, with overtones of sweet. It was red, red, red. Ideas swirled and I tried out a bunch of combinations before settling on the ideal.
This salad isn’t a throw-together, it takes time, but I’m telling you, from the bottom of my heart, that it’s worth it. The dressing turned out to be simple; who would believe? It’s all about marination. You’ve got to let the flavours “draw”. Mmmmm
I’m a believer, now let’s make you one. Hehe 🙃
So, find a good bunch of fresh beetroot and a young butternut and let’s begin…
Ingredients
Yields serving for four
Salad
2 beetroots
1 small butternut (choose a firm young root)
100 g of young cocktail tomatoes
3 red baby peppers
100 g snap peas
50 g pumpkin seeds
20 g sesame seeds
Cup of rocket (250 grams)
Dressing
50 g of vegetable oil ( olive or sunflower)
60 ml of vinegar (plain white)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
20 g brown sugar
Method
Boil the beetroot and the butternut in a pot. Begin with cold water. All root vegetables must be boiled from a cold-water start.
Once the vegetables are tender they must be peeled.
Beetroots are easy, once boiled the skins come off if you rub your hands over the vegetable. The butternut must be peeled using a sharp knife.
The difficult step is done. The vegetables are cooked.
Chop, dice and slice the peppers, tomatoes and snap peas.
Dice the beetroot and the butternut.
Tear up the rocket.
Combine all the ingredients that you’ve prepared so far.
Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds.
Prepare the dressing by combining all ingredients. Allow the combo to seep for 30 minutes.
Add to the salad and chill for 30 minutes.
Serve the salad with extra rocket and pumpkin seeds.
The butternut takes on the colour of the beetroot. The salad turns out truly red, against a backdrop of green.
All pictures are my own, taken using my iPad and manipulated using PicCollage and ArtStudio
The recipe was developed by me.