Beet, Orange, and Black Olive Salad

This past weekend was an excellent weekend. In particular I enjoyed a potluck held by some friends on Friday, where I was introduced to their circle of people. Their people love food: we had fantastic  Turkish kabobs, a dizzying array of breads with cheeses, meats, olives, and pickles, to die for mashed potatoes, burgers, veggies, and awesome desserts, all while beef jerky smoked away on the deck outside making the air itself quite savoury. I contributed vanilla shortcakes with strawberries and whipped cream, and given that they were brought up in conversation again during a visit last night they seemed to go over well. I love cooking for people who enjoy eating.  ^_^

I've been wanting to make this salad for a while, as part of the preparation and flavour combinations in it reminded me of another salad I'd made and loved out of a Moroccan cookbook, using peeled orange segments, chopped dates and a bit of orange flower water. This salad from Plenty contains the peeled orange segments and orange flower water, and then adds a handful of burgundy ingredients: Treviso, beets, and red onion for a beautiful and unexpectedly tasty experience. Treviso, also called red chicory, can be hard to find and also a little bitter. Its flavour is a good counterpoint to the sweetness of the oranges and beets in the recipe, so I recommend trying it. However, if you can't find it or don't care for the flavour, you can probably get away with shredded red cabbage in its place. The brininess of the black olives is a lovely addition to the salad and I'd think you'd lose out if something salty weren't there in small measure, so if olives aren't your thing, try a little bit of feta or perhaps some capers.

When it comes to peeling the orange segments, I admit, that part is a little fussy. I don't mind doing it because I know from past experience it really adds to the tender texture of the salad, but I do find it easier to peel each segment by hand rather than cutting them with the knife the way Yotam illustrates. If you were pressed for time you could probably get away with using tinned mandarin slices as those are pre-peeled and just need to be drained, but they won't have the same flavour as the fresh oranges. I do recommend using fresh beets that you cook yourself though, as tinned beets don't have the same sweet and vaguely mineral flavour as the fresh ones. I found it created less humidity and tending for me to cook the beets in my slow cooker on high for a few hours rather than boiling them on the stove. If you choose to do that, just make sure they beets are submerged in the crock before you start cooking and you should be set. Yotam says that this salad serves two generously; however, I found it could comfortably serve four as a side dish, or three as a main salad entree if served with a little bread or something on the side. It seemed to make a lot.

As usual, the ingredients are as listed in the book and the written instructions include my observations and any alterations.

Beet, Orange, and Black Olive Salad
(p. 15, Plenty)

Serves 2 generously

5 small or 2 large beets
2 oranges
1 Treviso (red chicory)
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
3 tbsp chopped parsley
5 tbsp black olives, pitted and halved
3 tbsp grapeseed oil
1 tsp orange flower water
1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
salt and black pepper

Place the beets in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 to 2 hours, or until the beets are tender - a knife piercing them should go in smoothly and come out easily. If you choose to cook the beets in a crockpot rather than on the stove, make sure they are fully covered by water and set the crock pot on high. The beets should be done within an hour or two, the same as if you did it on the stove. Once the beets are tender, leave them to cool completely in the water they were cooked in. This can take several hours, so plan ahead for this stage. Once the beets are cool, take them out of the cooking water and peel them (this is a lot easier than peeling them before they are cooked).

To prepare the peeled beets, cut each beet in half, and then cut each half into wedges. Yotam recommends wedges with a 1-inch base. I chose to go smaller than that, aiming for pieces around 3/4-inch wide at the base because that felt closer to bite size and it meant each of my halves got divided into even quarters, which was simple.

When the beets are ready, put them into a fairly large mixing bowl and begin to prepare the oranges. Using a sharp knife, cut off the top and base of each orange, then cut down the sides of each orange following its contour. You want to remove the rind and the white pith but still leave as much of the orange flesh itself as possible.

Once the orange has had the skin removed, you can either break it up into segments and peel each segment by hand to remove the inner connective membranes, or you can use a small, sharp knife to slice between the membranes and remove each segment. It's best to do either of these methods over a small bowl or the bowl with the beets in it so that any orange juice squeezed out during this process can be added to the dressing. Once all of the orange segments have been peeled, add them and any juice to the bowl with the beets. Discard the peels and membrane.

Cut the Treviso vertically into 1-inch thick slices. Break each section up into individual leaves by hand and add them to the bowl with the beets and the oranges. Add the parsley (I missed this step), the onion, and the olives to the bowl as well. In a separate container measure out the oil, orange flower water, and red wine vinegar.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss everything well to combine. Season with salt and pepper as required and toss again.

Serve and enjoy.