Zahtar Beets and Greens Salad
A big bowlful of greens. (I love the arugula mix from Trader Joe’s.)
Sliced cooked beets (not canned, for mercy’s sake!)
a sliced hard boiled egg
one big chunk of soft goat cheese
Zahtar spice (I found a bottle of this fantastic spice at a little gourmet deli in Key West)
a little handful of walnuts of raw sunflower seeds
Dressing: 2-3 Tbs olive oil whisked with 1 tb tahini sauce + salt and lemon pepper to taste.
Put your greens, egg, beets and goat cheese in a bowl. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and a healthy bunch of the delicious Zahtar spice. In a bowl, whisk the tahini and olive oil together, adding a pinch of salt and Zahtar. Drizzle over salad, tossing to coat well. Do not overdress, as the dressing is rich.
SisterBang came up with this general concept a few years ago and I have embellished a bit on it. It is the most delicious, satisfying meal. I am eating it for breakfast/lunch right now and thought I’d share it with you. It feels positively decadent!
Simple, elegant and sustaining.
(BTW thanks for the fascinatnig Wiki tip on Zahtar!)
Here’s a fair trade source of Palestinian za’tar:
http://zatoun.com/zaatar.htm
These folks also import the BEST fair trade olive oil (and soap . . . )
Yummy yummy yummy! (not so much the soap! haha)
Try roasted beets. They are the best!
absolutely – once you have roasted beets you will never boil them again – leave the skins on and wrap in foil – bake – unwrap – rinse in cool water to get the skin off (wear rubber gloves to do this) – quarter or cut beets in 1/8ths, sprinkle with a bit of olive oil and some balsamic vinegar and chopped green onions or chives – serve at room temperature – great side dish
That sounds absolutely fabulous. I love beets! Here is one of my all time favorite beet salads – I hope you get a chance to try it.
Quinoa Salad with Roasted Beets & Goat Cheese
Makes 2 servings
1 c cooked quinoa (about 1/3 cup raw)
3-4 fresh beets, greens attached
1T olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp vinegar (I use white balsamic)
1.5 oz crumbled goat cheese
salt & pepper
Heat oven to 375. Wash beets, cut off green tops & reserve. Peel beets & cut into chunks. Toss beets in 1/2 the olive oil and a little salt & pepper (I use Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt). Roast beets until fork tender, 30-40 minutes.
While beets are roasting, cook quinoa according to package directions. Carefully wash the beet greens, remove the center stem if you like (I do), and chop coarsely. Heat remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium heat – add garlic and cook a minute, then add beet greens & vinegar. Stir until greens are slightly wilted (it won’t take long).
Let all ingredients cool a little before putting the salad together. Toss goat cheese with the quinoa, and add the beets & greens. Serve immediately.
Penzey’s is a Milwaukee-based family and those spices are available by catalog. Wonderful folks, good spices, great selections: http://www.penzeys.com/
It’s not an impersonal chain; it’s a family, started with a mom and pop in Wauwatosa WI (where I lived) and the kids have stores all over the country–one has Penzeys which also has the catalog operation. You need not go to FLA for it!
Have fun!
I am a big fan of Penzey’s. The brand I found in Florida was another label. I couldn’t find it online.
Another use for Zaatar:
Mix zaatar and olive oil to get a sort of gloopy paste. (I can get fair traid palestinian olive oil locally – its the BEST for this.)
Use as dip/spread for bread.
Eat far more than you really meant to !
I occasionally help out with a fair-trade stall at the local Christmas market. We put this out as “bait” to get the punters in. Then the team has to exercise extreme willpower not to eat it all ourselves !
Ohhhh, this sounds so yummy!! I may adapt this for seasonal eating and use wilted greens instead of fresh greens to eat now. Or maybe I can use canned (that I can myself!) or pickled (that I pickle myself!!) beets to eat in early summer when we are eating salads twice a day every day for 8 weeks. [We have a CSA share, and 99% of our veggies come from the farm. Sure, I miss salads in the winter, but by the time the spinach and greens are done mid-summer I am SO OVER salads, so it balances out.]