August Chopped Salad

By norsegal8

This is one of those dishes that is always on the August menu; it's ingredients change with the seasons. Picture yourself walking through your market, shopping for small amounts of whatever colorful combinations of vegetables catches your eye. In the winter, the salad is made with root vegetables; come summer, it gets lots of tiny heirloom tomatoes. In other seasons, we combine fruit with the vegetables and toss everything in a Champgane vinaigrette. The ingredients below are only a suggestion.

Ingredients

• 3 golden beets
• 3 candy-strip beets
• 3 red beets
• 1 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• salt
• 1 cup chantarelle mushrooms
• 6 baby carrots, of different sizes and colors
• 6 baby turnips
• 1 samll Yukon Gold potato, peeled and diced
• 6 stalks asparagus
• 2 artichokes
• 2 cups canola oil
• 1 bulb fennel
• 2 small radishes
• 1 1/2 cups basic Champagne Vinaigrette
• 1 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1/2 grapefruit, sectioned
• 1 satsuma tangerine, sectioned
• 1 cucumber, seeded and shaped with a melon baller
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup pea sprouts
• 6 sprigs fresh dill
• 6 sprigs fresh chervil

Details

Servings 6

Preparation

Step 1

1. Put each color of beet into separate pots with enough water to cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. (Cooking separately allows the beets to maintain their original colors.) Cover and simmer until the beets are fork-tender, about 30 minutes.

2. While the beets are cooking, make the beet marinade by mixing the rice wine vinegar and sugar together in a pot. Cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

3. Drain the beets, and when they are cool enough to handle, peel. Halve each beet and transfer to the marinade, and allow to marinate for at least 4 hours.

4. Fill a large pot with water and add a generous pinch of salt. Cover and bring to a gentle boil over moderate heat. Blanch the chantarelles, baby carrots, baby turnips, potatoes and asparagus separately and in that order, until each vegetable is just soft - al dente. Use tongs or a strainer to transfer the vegetables to a large bowl filled with ice water. Cool quickly, remove from the water and drain, then blot the vegetables dry with paper towels.

5. Remove and discard the tough outer leaves of the artichokes, leaving only the palest, tender green leaves. Slice off about 2 inches of the leaves thorny tips. Peel the stem and trim off the brown end. Cut the artichokes in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scrape out and discard the fuzzy chokes. Cut each artichoke in half lengthwise again, then into 3 pieces. Heat the oil in a small deep skillet to 350 degrees. Fry the artichoke pieces until golden on all sides, about 7 minutes. Remove from the oil and let drain on paper towels.

6. Thinly slice the fennel and radishes with a sharp knife or use a mandoline.

7. Remove the beets from their marinade , discard the marinade and arrange on 6 plates.

8. Toss the chantarelles, carrots, turnips, potatoes, asparagus, fennel and redishes separately in the Champagne Vinaigrette and the arrange a few of each on top of the beets on each plate.

9. Evenly divide the pomegranate seeds, grapefruit sections, satsuma sections, abd cucumber balls between the plates.

10. Toss the sunflower sprouts and pea sprouts in the Champagne Vinaigrette and scatter them, along with the dill and chervil, over each salad.