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Saturday, September 01, 2007

Heirloom Tomato and Golden Beet Salad with Arugula Pesto



Now that's a pretty plateful, don't you think?

Heirloom tomatoes and raw golden beets on a bed of arugula with arugula pesto.

I've had golden beets on my mind ever since I saw Melody's post.

I suspect I am the first in an extensive English heritage to eat raw beets. Incredibly, I didn't even know you could eat them raw. (OMG!)

I don't know if this counts as "raw" food, as I dry-pan toasted the pine nuts, a step I would have undoubtably skipped before my Millennium Cooking Class. Heck, now toasted pine nuts seem like a requirement for any ice cream dish!

I used the Arugula Pesto recipe from The Millennium Cookbook as a guide, but basically winged it with arugula, toasted pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, and salt. The pesto was delicious and a nice change from basil pesto, although I'd like to try a combination basil/arugula version too. Anyway, I have quite a bit of arugula pesto left over, so what do you think I should try it with?

The salad was a joy that I took my time over! The tomatoes and beets were sweet and the arugula pesto surprisingly mild.

And, if you ever think you're a tad strange/obsessive about your food creations, how weird am I to even have thought of this catch-the-last-rays-of-sun shot.

Yep, that's my salad with Mount Tam in the background.

9 Comments:

Blogger Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Oooooh, the photos are beautiful! I too am relatively new to raw beets -- I've been shaving them with my mandoline, which makes the slices almost see-through!

4:57 AM  
Blogger Kalyn Denny said...

Totally gorgeous!

6:29 AM  
Blogger cookiecrumb said...

Raw beets! That's news to me too. Exciting. I think I might plant some beets.

As for your arugula pesto, eggplant? One of your sexy stacks: pesto, mushroom, um... You're more creative than I am.

Also, I'm planning to make an arugula/basil pesto, too!

11:14 AM  
Blogger Dr. Melissa West said...

Wow, that really is beautiful!

3:07 PM  
Blogger Alanna Kellogg said...

Lovely, lovely, lovely!!

3:57 PM  
Blogger Chris said...

Yum! It looks amazing. I made arugula pesto some time ago and loved it!

4:41 PM  
Blogger MeloMeals said...

What an amazing picture! Wow.. I am in awe...

I think you should make a pizza out of your leftover pesto and ingredients. You are the pizza queen...

Of course, we love arugula pesto in a cold pasta salad with kalamata olives, artichokes and roasted red peppers... and feta would be good too.. along with golden beets... yeah..

I don't think you're weird. hehe

5:34 PM  
Blogger tofu said...

raw beets indeed!

we use them all the time for our raw ravioli... like this one

5:51 AM  
Blogger Catherine said...

Thanks for all the comments.

Melody - I love the cold pasta salad idea.

Tofu - I saw something similar in one of the Millennium Cookbooks (not sure it was raw). Your beet raviloi looks fab!

9:16 AM  

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