The leaves are finally changing color in Atlanta and I’m suddenly craving purples, reds and yellows! If you also want to eat up these beautiful fall colors, I highly recommend this steamed carrot and beet salad with lemon vinaigrette. Filling, flavorful and earthy, it’s perfect on its own or as a side dish to an autumnal feast. Bonus, it’s quick and simple, too.
First, you’re going to need some multicolor carrots, I’m seeing them more and more at my local stores, along with other purple foods. I found a pack that included purple, white, yellow and orange carrots.
Now give them a good wash, peel and discard the skin, and keep on going with that carrot peeler until you get long beautiful carrot noodles. I wasn’t expecting the purple carrots to have orange interiors—so gorgeous.
I then thinly sliced a pre-cooked beet, using this very sharp Fine Occasion chef’s knife. I sort of cheated and used a box of Love Beets from the refrigerated section of the grocery store. If you have the patience to roast beets in the oven, please do! I just find these pre-cooked ones to be 1,000 times easier to manage and they taste so much better than canned or jarred beets.
I tossed the carrot noodles and beet slices into a steamer basket under a rolling boil of water and covered them for just five minutes, enough time for the carrots to slightly soften and for the beet flavor to mellow a little.
Plate your salad and drizzle on a quick lemon vinaigrette of lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, parsley and salt and pepper.
So delicious, enjoy!
Fall Colors Steamed Carrot and Beet Salad With Lemon Vinaigrette
- 4 medium sized multi-color carrots
- 2 pre-cooked beets
- juice of half a lemon
- 2 tbs of extra virgin olive oil
- 1/8 cup of fresh parsley finely chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Peel the carrots and discard the skin. Then continue peeling the carrots into long noodly ribbons. Thinly slice the beets. Transfer all vegetables to a steamer basket under a rolling boil and cover for five minutes, until slightly softened. Plate the vegetables and top with vinaigrette. For the vinaigrette, simply combine the lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, parsley and salt and pepper, and whisk with a fork. Enjoy!