Roasted Beet Carpaccio (Salad)

This is a very easy salad to make. I first started making beet salad a few years ago, encouraged by my daughter-in-law Sharon (thanks Sharon, for adding a totally new ingredient to my home “stockpile” of recipes). By now I have added a few variations of beet salad to our family repertoire (cooked, baked, or raw).

This recipe is based on beets that I first bake in the oven with balsamic vinegar and a bit of olive oil. Since the beets are baked with the skin, they don’t lose color or nutrients.

To cut the beets, once I bake them in the oven, and then peel them, I take a cylindrical cookie cutter just a bit smaller than the actual beet. I push the cookie cutter all the way through, and end up with a cylindrical shape of beet.

Then I carefully slice it as thin as possible, on a mandolin slicer. This results in evenly sliced, almost transparent beet slices, which I arrange on a plate. Then the chopped shallots and the sauce are carefully poured over the beets and served.

The recipe can be easily doubled.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup canola oil (I use a bit less than 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• black pepper
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• optional: 1/2 shallot finely chopped

Preparation:

1. Wash the beets well. Place in baking pan. Pour balsamic vinegar and olive oil over the beets. Cover pan with aluminum foil.
2. Bake for at least an hour, until the beets are softened.
3. Cool until you can handle the beets, and then pull the peel off the beets.
4. Take a cookie cylindrical round cookie cutter, just a bit smaller than the diameter of the beet; cut thru, and you end up with a cylinder shaped beet.
5. Carefully cut very thin slices on a mandolin slicer. This way they all come out the same thickness.
6. Place in overlapping circles on a plate.
7. Mix all the sauce ingredients, except the shallot, in a bowl or jar.
8. Sprinkle finely chopped shallot around the beets on the serving plate.
9. Pour the mixed sauce ingredients carefully over the beets and shallots on plate.
10. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate till serving.

Tip: Don’t throw out the beets that you cut off when making the cylindrical shape – use them for salad for “home use”, with the same sauce – or any other way you choose.