As we’ve mentioned…we’ve been a bit obsessed with beets lately. These fantastic Chioggia beets were a find at the market and were a great addition to a simple spinach salad for lunch the other day.
Chioggia beets are an Italian heirloom variety beet which were established around 1840 or so, and were named for the village near Venice where they were cultivated.
They are also known as the candy striped beet. The insides are so vibrant and beautiful and really have that tie-dyed appearance.
We read that Chioggia beets went very well with grilled avocado so we decided to make a salad.
We began by grilling our avocado until it was just brown. We sliced the beets with a mandolin so they would be fairly thin and then sautéd them gently in a touch of safflower oil just until they were soft.
The base of our salad was made of spinach with a light champagne vinegar dressing.
This was served at lunch and it was perfect. The beets were sweet and just so pretty on the plate. We included some of the uncooked beets simply for their vibrant colors. Their flavor was a bit more subtle than your average beet and, perhaps because they were cut so thin, they seemed to melt in our mouths when we ate them.
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