Do you like salad? I do! A good salad can brighten the mood, and the anticipation for the following foods is up high too! But you cannot only serve raw vegetables and call it a salad. It’s about combination — flavour matching and contrast of texture.
A perfect sample from Blaise Inn: a salad with smoked duck, pickled beetroot, candied walnut and raspberry vinegar dressing. It was the star of the whole meal, outshining the Sunday roast mains.
At home, I don’t always have smoked meat and candied nuts to upscale a salad, but I recently learnt from the cookbook ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ that avocado, beetroot, and citrus make a fantastic salad, too! It’s colourful, bright and filling — great to serve with any grilled meat/fish for a light lunch. When beetroot is in season, the enhanced sweetness marks the highlight of the salad.
If you feel coleslaw (cabbage salad) is too ordinary and fancy something new, this avocado beetroot salad is for you!
Avocado, Beetroot, and Blood Orange Salad Recipe
Try this restaurant-quality salad with these 3 wonderful ingredients! Go for cooked-ready beetroot for the shortest prep time.
Ingredients
Serves 1-2
- ½ perfectly ripe avocado
- 1 beetroot
- 1 blood orange
- parsley
- any greens
For the Lemon Vinaigrette
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- 1 small clove of garlic
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar
- 2 ½ tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- salt and black pepper
How to Make
- Start with cooking the beetroot with your preferred method (see notes).
- Meanwhile, prepare the lemon vinaigrette — smash the garlic and put it into a small bowl. Add lemon juice, zest, vinegar, and EVOO. Season with a pinch of salt and some freshly cracked black pepper. Whisk well.
- Cut off the top and bottom of an orange. Then remove the peel and pith in strips with a sharp knife. Carefully slice out the orange crosswise, and place them on a plate.
- Cut the avocado like you usually do and arrange them on the plate. Drizzle the other half with lemon juice and wrap it tight for future use.
- Back to the beetroot. Cut it into a similar size to the other ingredients, then position them with confidence. Try not to move them after landing on the plate; otherwise, it will leave a messy stain.
- Scatter over some chopped herbs and greens (if using).
- Have a taste of the lemon vinaigrette. Adjust with salt and acid if necessary. Then drizzle over the salad.
Beetroot Notes
There are several ways to cook a beetroot: roast, boil, steam, or microwave. I tried roasting and boiling, both take at least 30 minutes for a medium size.
Many prefer it unpeeled while cooking to avoid colour loss; I find it doesn’t matter much, as it still stays in its true colour even peeled. If you stick to peeling after cooking, it will still make a mess — stains on the chopping board, horrifying blood-like marks on the wall, etc.
To shorten the cooking time, microwaving seems the best option, as it only needs less than 15 minutes.
Or, simply buy cooked-ready beetroot for ultimate convenience.
