I’m a huge fan of beets, especially when they are roasted.  On the other hand, I am not a huge fan of quinoa.  That means that I had mixed feelings about this week’s recipe for Cook the Book Fridays, from Everyday Dorie.

Dorie Greenspan’s recipe for Ginger Beet Salad Bowls offers a composed salad with greens, quinoa, beet wedges and a honey-ginger dressing.  I tried hard, but I just couldn’t get excited.  In the end, I opted to dice roasted beets, add some sliced spring onions, and toss them with the dressing in the recipe.  The dressing was a lively combination of sweet and sour with ingredients like fresh ginger, honey, and harissa paste.  My result was less elegant than a composed salad but gave me a taste of the flavors she envisioned.

I make a variety of beet salads all year long.  Surprisingly, Howard liked this one more than I did.  While it wasn’t bad, this version is unlikely to take a spot in my repertoire.

(Apparently, I was so ambivalent about this salad that I forgot to take a picture of it.  Instead, I offer a glimpse of the flower garden outside my front wall.  I used to plant a variety of cosmos seeds each June.  Now, they self-seed, and the garden is self-perpetuating.  The varieties have crossed so many times that many of my flowers have unique color combinations and petal shapes.  When I am out there, passersby often compliment the riotous colors and tell me this garden makes them smile!)

To see what my Cook the Book Fridays friends thought, you can follow their links here.  The recipe can be found on page 88 of Dorie Greenspan’s Everyday Dorie.