Beets So Good
Chioggia beets attract you. Maybe its the hypnotic rings they have with alternating white and pink. Golden beets remind you that theres a world beyond the paint the town red and stain anything that they touch “red” beets. We picked some up both of them from Roots down community farm at Dane County Farmers Market in Madison.
We wanted to do a salad but did not want to go the ever present beets and goat cheese way. As Meg’s garden was also coming together we decided to do a garden shoots and beets salad.
Beets a few different ways
We peeled and sliced the chioggias and fresh pickled them in vinegar.
We roasted some of the chioggias and the golden beets separately. We then peeled and sliced them horizontally or vertically depending on their size.
One large golden beet we boiled, peeled and pureed with some cooking water, olive oil and vinegar to make a beet puree.
Sweet And Nutty
We also gathered some almond butter, honey and fig preserves. Other butters like peanut, pistachio, walnut will also work and so will other fruit preserves.
Pistachio-Cardamom Soil
we made a chunky soil by grinding sone pistachios with cocoa powder, a hint of instant coffee and cardamom. 
Soil was completed by mixing in some chopped dark chicolate and honey to get chunks which we baked on very low heat. Then just breaking up the slightly clumped mixture yields a lovely texture nutty and sweet and bitter flavored dirt. 
A simple Vinaigrette
We also made a simple vinaigrette with olive oil and vinegar and added a little bit if golden beet puree to dress some beets as well as greens.
Treasure shoots from Megs garden
Megs garden is just taking shape and we had lot of young shoots on offer. She harvested micro basil, celery, amaranth, red salad leaves, dill, mint, nasturtium leaves and we also had some sage blossoms.
Bringing it all together
We started by painting the plate a bit with the almond butter (In India you can find almond butter from sources like these), some lavender honey, some fig preserves and a few spoons of the beet puree.
The pistachio-cardamom dirt went on top.
Then the golden beets were dressed in the vinaigrette and plated on top of the puree portions.
This was followed by roasted chioggia beets pieces and then the chioggia beet pickled slices. We then dressed all the young salad leaves and shoots very gently with vinaigrette and plated them. We finished with a drizzle of pistachio oil and some sage blossoms. 
The salad looked spectacular, and every bite brings something different. Golden beets taste sweeter and chioggias have a slight bitter component. Sometimes the basil bursts through, sometimes mint, other times its the refreshing dill and celery or cleansing nasturtium. The vinaigrette cuts the rich nuttiness of almond butter and sweetness of beet puree, while the dirt is nutty but also bitter from the coffee cocoa and cardamom to balance the honey. You take one bite and next one is different, just like strolling through a garden and taking in views.
