Make a big batch of this dressing and save it for every salad, piece of lettuce, raw vegetable or piece of bread that’s screaming to be dipped. Verjus is a sour grape juice that works as a vinegar replacement. If you boil it down, it turns into sweet-and-sour heaven – perfect for balancing sweet roasted golden beets and sweetening up refreshing, bittersweet fennel. The pistachios are there for colour. You could use toasted sunflower seeds, pine nuts or cashews in their place. The nutty flavour offsets the sweetness.
Fennel, Beet and Pistachio Salad with Verjus Vinaigrette
A small bunch of golden (or purple) beets
1 cup verjus
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
A few grinds of pepper, to taste
1 bulb fennel, fronds trimmed and reserved, bulb halved and sliced very thinly
2 tbsp toasted and roughly crushed pistachios or other nuts or seeds (leave the seeds or smaller nuts whole)
Trim the top and bottom of the beets and wrap in foil, coat in a tiny bit of olive oil and roast in a 410˚F oven for about 40 minutes, or until tender. A fork should go in easily.
While the beets are roasting, reduce the verjus in a saucepan by about half. Taste it and if you find it way too puckering, keep reducing it by half again. Or add a tsp of sugar, honey or maple syrup – that’s the quick version. Then cool and whisk in the oil drop by drop and add the salt and pepper. Taste the vinaigrette and adjust as necessary. Remember that the beets will be sweet, so the vinaigrette can be a bit on the sour side.
Add the fennel slices (and any part of the fennel stems that’s tender enough to eat) to a large bowl with some of the fronds and the toasted nuts.
Peel the cooled beets by pressing off the skins with your hands and cut the beets into small pieces. Add them to the salad and drizzle over the dressing. Or plate each salad and drizzle the dressing over each serving. It’s a little more glamorous that way. Garnish with the rest of the fennel fronds you so carefully plucked from the stems.
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