Organics To You is in full winter mode now. My box yesterday had turnips, tangerines, broccoli, collards, beets, carrots, apples, pears, red onions, a squash that looks like a turban squash (but probably isn't one) and potatoes. Yesterday I made a fantastic Moroccan spiced vegetable medley with a turnip, some broccoli, carrots, onion, garlic, and a leek (leftover from my previous box.) I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. It makes me happy.
The pears are remarkably underripe, though, and I needed to figure something creative to do with them. I'm not as anti-pear as I used to be, but underripe pears remain awful in my mind. I'm sure they'll ripen soon enough but I wanted to do something with the beets and it occurred to me I could use an underripe pear in the process. I poked around for a recipe I could adapt and found one that used jicama. I substituted the pear, and tweaked it a bit more (as I had no orange marmalade nor an actual orange and I don't like to use things like salt) and came up with this.
Beet and Pear Salad with Balsamic Tangerine Vinaigrette
Serves 2, or 4 if they're not sure about the beet
1 medium beet, roasted, cooled, and peeled
1 medium UNDERRIPE d'Anjou pear
half a small red onion
half a tangerine, zest and sections
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Juice from the other half of the tangerine
Slice beet into matchstick pieces. Put in bowl, then cut pear into thin wedges, having them if they are too thick. Slice the onion into thin strips. Combine in a bowl. Zest half the tangerine into the bowl. Add the oil and vinegars, and mix well. Add the tangerine juice, mix again, and then add the tangerine sections. Mix gently, cover, and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to combine. Bring to room temperature before serving.
If you like salt, this does taste a bit like it could use some. It might not suffer from some ground black pepper. But at heart, it's a YUM!
