Fresh beets are a lot of work.
My problem is I can’t resist them. I see them at the farmstand and know how intensely beautiful that deep red will look, how clear and mellow the just picked flavor will be. These are totally different from anything you find in a can or a jar.
I love to cook and then refrigerate them for this cool, summer salad. Fresh beets and sweet corn are unbelievable together. I always make a few more ears of corn and save them for a recipe like this, or just cut up the kernels and freeze for fall.
Vinetown Sweet Corn & Beet Salad
4 side servings
- 4-5 small beets
- 1 ear fresh corn, shucked, boiled and cooled
- 1/2 sweet onion sliced
- 1/4 cup tarragon vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Wash the beets, cut off the tops to eat later and place in a pan.
Cover them with water.
Cook the beets 1 hour or until tender.
Let them cool in the water.
Put the beets in a container and cover with the cooking liquid.
Refrigerate them until they’re cold. (You can keep them in the refrigerator for several days.)
Slice the onion thinly and reserve.
Cut the kernels off the cob.
Place the beets on a work plate (not your serving dish). You want to separate them because they have so much red juice that it will go over everything before you’re ready to compose the salad.
The skin will be so thin now that you can peel it off with your hands, like peeling an egg.
Slice the tops and bottoms off and slice the beets, placing them back on your work plate. Wash your hands!
On a small round platter layer the onion and beet slices.
Top with the corn kernels.
Stir the sugar into the vinegar until it dissolves. Add the olive oil and blend together.
Spoon over the salad until the beets are saturated and serve.
