In the color of summer

My dacha friend, seven-year-old Vanya, dedicated a triptych to this phenomenon called “Today it’s summer.” In the first picture – a tree that looks like an oak, on the branches of which there are many, many apples, and a little to the side – a brazier with blazing logs. In the second picture – the same tree, but already without fruits and a cloud (flock?) of apples in flight, somewhere halfway to the barbecue. And the third, final part: apples in the grill, under it and around it. Have flown.

Of course, Vanya is not a botanist, but an artist and philosopher. He caught the general mood very accurately: everything and everything tends to the grill – breathe (and smell through) with delicious smoke, try out another (this time the most correct) recipe for barbecue or another dish on the coals … However, satiety comes quickly, and more and more often exclamations are heard: “Barbecue again? Again?! No, it’s unbearable!” This is a sure sign that the time has come for summer salads and cold soups, which, firstly, are wonderful in the heat and, secondly, never get bored. Let’s pay tribute to okroshka, its patriotism (here – it’s just leavened), originality and audacity: salad, combined with a soft drink, forms a strange-looking soup. It is difficult, very difficult to persuade foreign guests to try okroshka, and many compatriots evasively remark that this soup is not for everyone.

So, we are preparing beetroot, because it is impossible not to love it. It is futile to compete with his bright beauty, and besides, he is tasty, healthy, light, cheerful and diverse (I really want to add “smart”, but then you get a portrait of an ideal man, which, alas, does not exist in nature).

Hot salad with mustard dressing

For 4 persons. Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes.

• 4 medium beets
• 2 medium white turnips
• 2 medium sweet potato tubers
• 2 young red onions
• 1 tbsp. l. granular mustard
• 3 Art. l. apple cider vinegar
• 3 art. l. walnut or hazelnut oils
• sprig of rosemary
• salt and pepper to taste
• for decoration red basil, parsley

Wash the beets, turnips and sweet potatoes, steam them for 20-45 minutes, checking for doneness with the tip of a knife. If some of the root vegetables have reached readiness before the rest, remove them and reheat slightly before serving. Prepare mustard sauce: chop rosemary leaves, mix with mustard, add

vinegar, 1 tablespoon water, nut butter, salt, pepper and mix thoroughly to get a thick homogeneous sauce. Onion cut into thin rings. Cut the finished root crops into circles or slices, arrange on plates, garnish with herbs and pour over the dressing. Serve warm.

I have kept my summer loyalty to the beetroot grower for many years, despite the fact that once our relationship was severely tested. During a formal dinner at an important government office, my glasses fell off my nose. It could have turned out funny and cute if they didn’t fall on a plate. Or even on a plate, but not with soup, but, say, with beetroot salad. Alas, glasses found their last refuge in a plate of beetroot. A fountain of spray deflated the somewhat tense and overly solemn atmosphere. But in vain my table neighbors – strictly and thoughtfully dressed people – sprinkled salt on their lapels. The beetroot does not wash off. I think that if borscht, kharcho or some other soups were in place of beetroot, I would never forgive them. And getting angry at the beetroot is more expensive for yourself. You can’t do without it in the summer anyway.

Beet freshness

This joyful root vegetable is useful both raw and cooked. Although, if you choose a heat treatment method, it is best to bake it for about an hour in the oven at 150–170 ° C, wrapped in parchment or foil. Baked beetroot will remain very sweet, it will retain B vitamins, as well as almost a complete set of vital minerals: potassium, sodium, selenium, calcium … Beetroot cleanses the blood, helps the heart, reduces blood pressure, improves memory, helps fight insomnia . Due to the presence of folic acid, which promotes cell renewal, beetroot rejuvenates the body, preventing its premature aging.

scarlet petals

For 4 persons. Cooking time: 45 minutes.

• 1 large roasted red beetroot
• 1 head of cauliflower (about 500 g)
• 4 stalks leek (white part)
• 1 medium raw beetroot
• 4 lines
• 200 ml sushi vinegar (may make your own by mixing 200 ml rice vinegar with 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp fine sea salt)
• pink peppercorns

Cut the peeled baked beets into thin slices, put in a bowl, pour over sushi vinegar and leave to marinate. Wash the vegetables, cut the white part of the leek in half lengthwise. Steam vegetables until half cooked: beets – 25-30 minutes, cauliflower – 15 minutes, and leek halves – 10 minutes. Take out the cooked vegetables, remove the skin from the beets. Leek halves, without cooling, divide into separate leaves and put in a flat dish. Separate the cauliflower into florets, cut each floret in half, and place them on top of the leek. Slice the steamed beetroot into 5mm thick slices and arrange over the rest of the vegetables. Pour the juice from the baked beets on top and decorate it with slices. Serve the salad hot, warm or cold, sprinkled with coarsely ground pink pepper and radish slices.

Summer beetroot

For 5 persons. Cooking time: 30 minutes.

• 4 boiled beetroots
• 4 fresh cucumber
• a bunch of radishes
• 4 hard-boiled eggs
• 50 g green onions
• 50 g dill
• juice 1 / 2 lemons
• 100 g sour cream
• 1,5 liters of water
• 1 Art. l. Sahara
• salt to taste

Peel the beets, grate and pour hot water (but not boiling water!). Add sugar, salt, lemon juice and put in a cool place – insist. When the beets have cooled, add finely chopped cucumbers, eggs, radishes and herbs, mix. Fill with sour cream.