Recently, I was inspired by my friand baking friend at work to "Bring back the Beetroot". She and her team won a staff competition by creating a gorgeous display of beets, and making all kinds of different salads and cakes with this classic pink root. While pink is not my favourite colour, there's certainly something quite girly and fun about eating pink salad!
Last month, I bought a pack of lovely organic pickled whole beetroot, which I was going to make a salad with. It sat in the fridge for a few days after I came down with a cold/man flu. On day three, when I finally felt ready to start eating again, those beets were calling me from the fridge, just begging me to eat them. I scarfed down all 6 whole beets in seconds. My fingers were stained pink for days, and I had to cancel the salad idea. (Not to mention a few days of.... errrr... an interesting hue in the bathroom...)
Today I bought some more lovely organic beets, so I decided to try again. And here's what I did:
- 250g pack of cooked/pickled beetroot, sliced
- Whole pack of feta cheese (200g), crumbled
- handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped
- a bag (fresh) or tin (if you must) of chickpeas
- one lime
- a handful of pinenuts
- 200g buckwheat (but you could use couscous)
Toast the pinenuts, and pour boiling water on the buckwheat or couscous to soak. Combine all of the ingredients, squeezing the lime juice over the salad at the end.
And take a look at this lovely website, also campaigning to bring back the beets: http://www.lovebeetroot.co.uk/
