A few days ago “Spring has sprung!” was on everyone’s lips. It was irresistible, I even caught myself humming it. And I should know better. As long as I have lived in New York, spring has never sprung here. It fumbles, stumbles, advances two balmy afternoons, retreats five frigid days, and, just as winter finally seems to capitulate, spring gets bullied away by summer.
It was 20 degrees (Celsius, which is about 70°F) last Friday and we had our first picnic. Now it is raining, snowing, and hailing intermittently. It’s treacherous because the warm days are just enough to conjure visions of light dresses, and coax out the daffodils in the park and the chives on my balcony.
So as winter meets spring, and no one is quite sure which one it really is, I imagined a hybrid salad. The chives, shivering in the snow, were a nice way to springify the enormous beet salad I made to finish the last vegetables in the fridge before going off on holiday. Two weeks of skiing in the Haute Savoie, plenty of cheeses to eat and Abymes to drink. I will report back.
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Whole raw beets
Flat-leaved parsley
Good olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
Maldon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Chives
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Peel and grate the beets with the fine setting of a hand-held grater or food processor. Wash and finely chop the parsley.
Mix the beets with a generous douse of olive oil, freshly pressed lemon juice, salt, and pepper, checking the seasoning as you go and adjusting to taste. Mix in the parsley.
Roughly cut the chives into 1/2 inch (1 cm) pieces and toss into the salad.
Tags: beet salad, beets, easy meal, salad, spring, vegan, vegetarian
Nettle and Quince 
25 March 2011 at 13:15 |
As a Canadian living in Ontario, I so know what you mean about the elusive Spring! I fall into the same trap every single March.
This beet salad looks fantastic! I was just thinking of making one this weekend.
21 April 2011 at 08:29 |
Thank you for your comment, I hope you enjoyed the salad.
24 March 2011 at 23:37 |
I’m not a fan of beets, but my husband loves them. This looks like a treatment of beets I might actually like.
26 March 2011 at 18:27 |
Thank you. I love your comment because that’s one of the reasons I posted this – a friend told me exactly the same thing the other day! I hope you do like them this way.
24 March 2011 at 19:29 |
This salad definitely reminds me of spring with its fresh and colorful look. I love the fact that it doesn’t have too many ingredients
21 April 2011 at 08:29 |
Thank you for your comment, I also like simple salads. In fact, I am somewhat suspicious of salads (or any other dishes) that have too many ingredients.