BEET AND AVOCADO SALAD

I am a huge fan of cookbooks. I collect them like somebody would collect stamps, coins or action heroes, lovingly lining up my collection on shelves, reorganizing and rearranging it occasionally just for fun.

I’ve taken cookbooks with me on planes for “light reading”. They sit on my nightstand, often piling up as I acquire yet another and another. Amazon prime is my worst enemy or best friend (however you choose to look at it) because it is just so easy to add yet another new book to my shelf.

While some books do little more than inspire a thought or two, Jerusalem has been a favorite over the last year. I reference this book often and when I learned that Yotom Ottolenghi had a new cookbook out, Plenty, I was so excited to add yet another book to my collection. This collection of completely vegetarian recipes would have even the most ardent carnivores salivating. The cover recipe caught my eye and given I had most of the ingredients on hand I decided it was a must try.

Creamy avocado is a perfect match to earthy but still crisp beets. I substituted arugula because I had that on hand for the pea shoots and eliminated the peas because it just didn’t feel appropriate for fall. Maybe in the spring I would throw some in. The sweet and spicy additions to the dressing are so not overpowering. You would hardly notice if you weren’t looking for it but those flavors really rounds out the dish.

The bright red of the beets makes for a incredibly beautiful salad. However, it can be a a little bit messy to eat so serve with a napkin and knife. There’s relatively little effort involved for this salad. I love how the herbs are thrown in whole so don’t think you have to take the time to chop them up.

BEET AND AVOCADO SALAD

• Servings: 2 people
• Time: 30 minutes

modified from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

Ingredients:

• 2 beets
• 1/4 one red onion

Special Equipment Needed:

Method:

Bring a large pot