I went a little crazy at the farmers market this last weekend. Joe is out of town for the week and I wanted to stock up on fresh vegetables to eat and see if "my" eating versus "our" eating would make a difference. Now I'm not saying we don't eat healthy, but like everyone else...of course we could do better. Honestly, if you put a bowl of carbonara in front of me or a piece of cheesecake, I won't shrug it away.
So as I said the other day, I deemed this week my "eat clean" week. And I found some pretty cool things at the farmers market too. A candy cane beet that was just begging to be bought. From the outside it looks just like a regular red beet, but once you start cutting through it, red and white stripes emerge and it is the most beautiful root vegetable I have seen yet.
I knew exactly where I was going with this beet. I saw an episode of French Food at Home on the Cooking channel and the host made the most gorgeous and simplest salad. It was just beautiful. Shaved beets of various colors with asparagus and Persian cucumbers. All raw and so colorful I knew I had to make this plate of rainbow heaven.
You need a mandolin to achieve the paper thin slices of the raw beets. And trust me, it makes such a difference. Thin raw beets are refreshing and crunching, this is the perfect summer salad.
Method:
1) Cut the stems off the beets and wash them very well. Peel the outer skin off using a vegetable peeler. Using a mandolin on the thinnest setting, carefully shave the beet into thin slices until desired amount.
2) Use a vegetable peeler to peel long strips of Persian cucumber and asparagus.