Pickled Raw Beet Salad
If you love beets as much as I do then you will want to try this quick and easy pickled raw beet salad. You don’t even boil the brine mixture. You slice the beautiful chioggia beets and red onion on a mandolin so they are very thin, add the liquids and the salad is ready in a matter of hours. The sweet naturally striped beets are called chioggia and they come in an assortment of vibrant colors like pink and golden hues with darker pink or white swirls going around. The best place to find this kind of assortment is at a Whole Foods Market.
This marinated raw beet salad is a very refreshing dish. The addition of the red onion is amazing…sometimes I think the pickled red onions might be my favorite part. I also add sheep’s milk feta to this dish because that creaminess balances out the crunchiness of the beets and red onion. Now with my quick and easy version of pickling I have found that there isn’t any difference if you marinated them for 3 hours or 24 hours. The only drawback of the 24 hours is that the vibrancy of the stripes get somewhat muted on the beets. The crunchiness and flavor of the beets and red onion is the same so it’s advantageous to only allow the 3 hours so you keep them looking beautiful. You can serve this pickled combo on a bed of arugula with sheep’s milk feta, crumbled garlic croutons and mint leaves and you’ll have yourself a lovely appetizer. Some other appetizers you could serve with this baked coconut shrimp, smoked salmon on crostinis with a cream cheese-caper spread, guacamole, or fresh mozzarella, pesto and roasted tomato on crostinis.
Ingredients:
- 3 or 4 chioggia striped beets
- 1 medium red onion
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar “seasoned” (it comes seasoned or unseasoned)
- 1/4 Tsp salt
- 1/2 Tsp coarse Italian seasonings
Directions:
- Slice the beets and red onion on a mandolin
- Put them into a medium bowl
- Add the olive oil, vinegar’s, salt and Italian seasoning to the sliced beets and red onion
- Cover with Saran wrap and put into the frig for 3 hours
- Serve on a bed of arugula with crumbled sheep milks feta, crumbled garlic croutons and mint leaves