Raw Root Vegetable Salad
I gave my blood for this salad. Literally.
Years ago, I had bought a mandolin at the dollar store. In retrospect, I definitely should have paid more than a dollar.
It was so cheap that the finger guard broke even before I used it. No biggie. I shrugged it off and proceeded to slice my potatoes.
As I got near the end of the potato, I looked down at the cutting board and noticed a small piece of a reddish potato. How odd. I wasn’t using red potatoes.
And then my brain processed what my finger had been telling it for the last few seconds: that was no potato. That was a piece of my finger!
Let’s just say that the cat learned a few new colorful words that day.
One trip to the emergency room, a tetanus shot and a whole lot more colorful words later, I swore off using a mandolin ever again. Which lasted not quite so long as forever, but I did spend more than a dollar that time.
So when I was making this salad, I very carefully used the finger guard, proud of myself for having learned my lesson…..and then promptly sliced my finger open while washing the (insert colorful word here) thing.
Some people just never learn.
Moral of the story….a mandolin is a dangerous weapon. Use it with caution.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups of mixed greens
- 3-4 medium carrots (multi-color ones if possible)
- 1 small red beet
- 1 small yellow beet
- 1/2 – 1 cup walnut pieces
- 2 Tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard seed
- 1 Tablespoon minced chives
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Wash and peel the beets and carrots. Using a mandolin or very sharp knife, carefully slice them all into very thin rounds. Add them to the lettuce.
- To make the dressing, combine the vinegar through the salt and pepper in a small jar and shake to combine. Pour over salad and toss. Sprinkle top with walnuts and serve. ** If you want to bump up the flavor of the walnuts, you can put them into a pan over medium high heat and toast them for a few minutes till they release their aroma and start to turn golden, shaking the pan or stirring them frequently. Be careful as they go from toasted to burnt in a nanosecond.
Enjoy!
