When Little J visits the salad bar, this is what he wants: a boiled egg, beets, and anything with sour cream. He's funny. He loves a beet. He also knows that when he eats them they stain his lips red so he always asks me to "wook at my wipstick." Cute.

Can you tell that kid is from Russia? Beets, of course, are a popular vegetable in Russia as they store easily, are a colder weather vegetable, and are chock-full of nutrition. We mostly have dark red beets in our grocery stores in the US, but I know from my more adventurous gardening friends that they come in many different colors. I had a wonderful golden beet puree at a potluck last fall that I still remember fondly.

With summer upon us I thought I'd post a couple of beet salad recipes. It's always kind of unexpected to bring a beet salad to a potluck but when I do it the food always "gets gone," as we say in this next of the woods.

Here's one that used all three of Little J's salad bar favorites. I found it on cooks.com:

RUSSIAN BEET SALAD

8 healthy (2 1/2 inch diameter) beets
1/2 c. cider vinegar
1 med. clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp. honey
1/2 c. minced red onion
2 scallions, minced (whites and greens)
1 med. cucumber, seeded and finely chopped
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
2 tbsp. fresh dill, minced (or 1 tsp. dried dill)
2 c. mixed sour cream and yogurt
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil the beets, whole, for about 20-25 minutes. Rinse under running water as you rub off their skins. Chop into 1/2 inch bits and while they are still warm, marinate them in vinegar, garlic and honey. Let stand 30 minutes.
2. Add all remaining ingredients. Mix well and chill until very cold.

Here's another recipe from a the personal website of a Russian math genius/computer science post-doc who works at the University of Western Ontario. Not only is she brilliant, but she can cook. Here is her recipe for a sweet and savory sounding beet salad:

Ingredients:
3 medium sweet beets,
1 table spoon of raisins,
1 table spoon of dried plums,
2 table spoons of chopped walnuts,
1 clove of garlic .
1 table spoon of sour cream,
1 table spoon of mayonnaise.

Cooking:
1. Cook the beets until they got soft inside. While boiling add a bit of salt, a half of small lemon, 2 table spoons of maple syrup or honey. Let beets cool down to the room temperature.
NB: be patient -- cooking beets takes up to 3 hours.
To preserve more flavour in beets I usually don't peel them before cooking.
2. If the raisins are too dry, put them in hot water for 5 minutes, rinse and let dry.
3. Peel the beats and grate them on a mid-size grater.
NB: the second half of lemon will help you to get rid of the beet coloring on your hands - just use as it was a soap.
4. Cut dried plums into small slices.
5. Mix beets, raisins, plums and walnuts.
6. Chop or grind garlic cloves, add to the salad.
7. Add sour cream and mayonnaise, stir.
8. Put in a big salad bowl, decorate with slices of greens grapes or cucumber slices and sweet corn grains.

Serving:
NB: It will take some time for mayonnaise and sour cream to penetrate and flavor the salad.
Give it at least 20 min before serving