Warm Beet Salad with Fire Cider Dressing
fool-proof tender beets perfect for a side or main dish
Annnnd I’m back! It was a rough week recovering from Covid and I’m finally starting to feel like myself again. I’ll be sharing two recipes next week to make up for the week I missed, so keep an eye out for that.
Throughout this uncomfortable experience, I didn’t have much of an appetite. Partly because I was (and still am) so congested. When you can’t taste your food very well, you tend not to crave much.
I also think not having an appetite is the body’s way of conserving energy to focus more on healing and less on digesting. Either way, it feels good to want to be back in the kitchen AND have enough strength to stand for longer than a few minutes.
This recipe was a lifesaver when I was in the thick of it. It didn’t take much to throw together and left me feeling comforted and nourished. It’s also my go-to way to prepare beets. If you’re not a fan of cooked beets, this recipe just might change your mind.
It’s sort of a steam-roast method that leaves you with fork-tender beets with skins that easily slip off. You can serve it as a side or add leafy greens or radicchios to make it more of a main dish.
The herbal twist here is the fire cider dressing. My friend Lauren makes a really lovely fire cider which is essentially a folk remedy for colds and flu.
It’s a vinegar-based remedy packed with warming and stimulating herbs, spices, and alliums to help support the immune system. It also acts as an expectorant to help move congestion out of the body.
You can always make your own fire cider at home, too. Mountain Rose Herbs has a great recipe you can tweak and use what you have on hand. Typically, herbalists make a batch in the late summer/fall and let it macerate (or sit) for a few weeks to infuse. Once strained, you can add a little honey to make it tastier and enjoy as you like.
Since beets pair so well with something acidic, I thought this would be the perfect way to weave in some healing herbs into this dish. Mix a splash of fire cider with olive oil, salt, and pepper for a quick and spicy dressing.
Better yet, make a batch in a pint jar to use throughout the week on warm salads, roasted veggies, grains, or beans!
Feel free to add your favorite toasted nuts or seeds for a bit of crunch. Again, you can make a big batch by toasting them in the oven and storing in a jar to use in future meals.
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