Fallen Souffle

This month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge (hosted by Alicat and Sara) asked us to utilize foods in the shade of orange. Hmm. This leaves one with limited options as there are few orange foods on God’s green earth. So instead of searching for some creative food and recipe I thought I would spotlight something simple and sweet..and something very Ina.

I have honestly only made a few dishes from my Barefoot Contessa Cookbooks because good ole Ina, like many of my favorite chefs, loves to use lots of butter and oil and all things not so good for your figure. So I have been known to make some recipes with a few minor changes though I am pleased to say this one needed none!

Though the beets are the main ingredient in this dish, the oranges are the real stars. They add the perfect sweetness and really brighten the flavor of the beets. I have never had a beet until I opened a can of them for this recipe, but I was pleasantly surprised. If anything, they are a beautiful color! Ina says this recipe’s flavors develops over a few days, it tasted great today but I can’t wait to taste it tomorrow! The only change I made was to add only 2 cans of beets instead of her recommended 3 and I threw in some clementine segments because I needed to use them up before they went bad!

Jen’s version of Orange and Beet Salad
adapted from the Barefoot Contessa Bookbook

2 15oz cans of cut beets (not sliced, you want chunks)
2 navel oranges, zested, segmented then juiced
1 small red onion diced (I omitted this because I don’t care for raw onions)
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar (Ina used raspberry vinegar but I didn’t have any)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1. Combine beets, orange segments, and onion in a medium sized bowl and toss. In a small bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients to make a dressing and pour over beets. Allow to chill overnight to allow the flavors to marry.

2. Serve cold or at room temperature.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 4th, 2006 at 3:03 pm and is filed under Veggies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.