What do you do with a ton of beets in a pinch?!??! Well you HAVE to make a version of this salad.

I got on a Mark Bittman kick last week, reading his favorite recipes over and over again, sort of methodically hoping that the more I read, the more of his skills I’d gain. I used his recipe for raw beet salad as the inspiration for this last-minute salad. It was so last-minute that I ate it all straight from the bowl. I have to be honest here and say I’m not sure it’d be worth making if I didn’t have the food processor with a grater attachment. Because hello, beets are SOOO messy. But if you happen to be wearing a large rubber raincoat, Red Lobster bib, or elbow-high gloves, it might be less messy for you.

Here’s my rendition taking from some advice from Mark. So, beets apparently are so sweet that they require a ton of acid. Well, I went a little overboard but it’s ok!!! There’s always room to tweak that. (tweaking, t-w-e-a-k-i-n-g tweaking…Tom Hanks, You’ve Got Mail). 

1. Grate 1 beet and 1 carrot

2. Mince 1 in chunk of ginger (peeled) and 1 shallot

3. Whisk together minced ginger, juice of a lime, some shakes of sherry vinegar, a few squeezes of honey, dijon, some SESAME OIL  and olive oil- KEY INGREDIENT HERE

3. Pour dressing over beets and carrots

4. Chop up some cilantro and throw in the mix to your liking

5. Chop up some salty peanuts, almonds, or whatever nuts you have on hand. I’d even add chopped ramen if I had any 🙂

Ok so at this point, mine was a little too acidic, so the way I mellowed it out was by adding some guacamole. But really, chop up an avocado if you have one – I think that’s the key addition.

A few nights before, I went to this restaurant with friends where they have these spicy marcona almonds with manchego cheese and chocolate. Holy cow, amazing appetizer. So you realllyyy need to go to that restaurant and use the leftover almonds in the salad, that was key here.

beetsonbeetsonbeeeets!!!