The purple shade of this salad alone makes it worth trying!
Beets are an underappreciated vegetable, in my opinion. They are often forgotten, and even when they aren’t, they’re a topping on a salad or a garnish to a dish. For this recipe, they get to be the star. While the color of this salad is a one-dimensional purple, it is multi-dimensional in flavor and texture.
The original post from June 2017
I truly enjoy beets. In many different fashions. Pickled beets make a fine side dish on their own or as a topping to add a little zing to a salad. As for roasted beets, I have many, many ways of using them. However, I haven’t done much with raw beets. They seemed too hard and possibly a little too earthy flavored to be used in that way.
With summer’s arrival I began to wonder if there would be a way to work raw beets into a salad. What if I shredded them? I assumed that even with shredding the beets would need to sit in a marinade or dressing for several hours to improve their texture. My recipe testing netted two results:
- Shredded beets make an excellent salad.
- The salad can be eaten immediately, if desired.
Once I had the shredded beets query solved, I debated what ingredients to add. I wanted something sweet and something with crunch. What I realized is that almost nothing I added would change the visual appearance of the salad, as the beets would stain everything a nice shade of purple. With no need to consider color, I chose gala apples both for their firm texture and hint of sweetness. Slivered almonds were the perfect choice for adding a tiny amount of extra crunch.
It’s not too often that you get to serve a purple dish, which means this salad needs to go to the top of your gotta try it list.
- 4 medium beets, peeled
- 1 large gala apple, cored
- 2 tablespoons slivered almonds
- ⅓ cup cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- Grate beets using the fine shredding disk on a food processor.
- Dice apple into small cubes.
- Combine shredded beets, cubed apples, and almonds in a medium bowl; toss well.
- In a small bowl whisk together cider vinegar and maple syrup; pour over salad.
- Toss salad.
- Cover and refrigerate for a couple hours to allow flavors to meld or eat immediately.
- Beets can be grated on a box grater, but it is messy. Expect to have purple hands, cutting board, and counter.
