Beets with Watercress and Orange

My love of beets goes back a long ways and it has only been recently that I’ve decided to delve into other regions other than pickled and barszcz. It’s mid-summer and most vendors have beets at their stalls and what’s even better is that many of them have something other than the bright purple – there’s orange, yellow, striped – how wonderful!! In fact, I’ve been eating so many beets this summer that I’ve had a few scares in the washroom; until I remember what I had for lunch.

Purple beets can be messy to peel. I don’t mind purple fingers; I’m preparing food after all. I also peel them before they’re cooked so my fingers are even worse. To make peeling beets easy, cook them and when they’re cool enough to handle peel the skins off with your fingers. The skins should come off easily.

To take advantage of some of summer’s bounty, this beet, watercress and orange salad from Fields of Greens is nice and light for those summer lunches.

Beets with Watercress and Orange

1 lb beets, 2” in diameter

3 tbs orange juice

1 tbs champagne vinegar (wine vinegar worked fine too)

1/8 tsp salt

Pepper

1 bunch watercress (or other light lettuce)

Preheat the oven to 400°. Trim the beets, wash under cold water and place in a small baking dish with ½“ water. Cover and bake until tender, about 35-40 mins. Cool and peel, and slice in ¼“ rounds or wedges. Combine orange juice with vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour over beets. Wash lettuce and place on a platter and arrange sliced beets on top. Sprinkle with ground pepper.

** If using multi-coloured beets, marinate the purple ones separately because the colour will run. You can also alternate the colours when arranging the platter.