Beet and Fennel Salad

Some of the FFTY box contents for this week have already been used. Most of the heirloom tomatoes along with some parsley were used in tonight's pasta puttanesca dinner. I dried the rest of the parsley using the oven method covered earlier.

Also in this week's box was a bunch of beets. Soon after we started the FFTY box, I learned that I actually like fresh-cooked beets. The first time we got beets in the box (2007), I made a recipe that was, for the most part, on the FFTY sheet that comes with each box. Today, I cooked the beets and made the recipe again. There's room for variation but here's the basic recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch beets
• 2 Tbsp capers
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 Tbsp sherry vinegar (use what you have on hand)
• 1 fennel head

Steps:

• Early in the day, preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Trim and rinse the beets - keep the beet greens for other uses
• Place the cleaned beets in a covered pyrex dish with some water (just enough to cover the bottom) and bake for 60 minutes
• When cooled, peel beets and slice into wedges and place into a large bowl
• Rinse capers and let dry on a paper towel
• Heat 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil in a small skillet. Add capers and shake skillet constantly until capers begin to brown -- about 1 minute.
• Add 3 Tbsp. olive oil to beets in bowl
• Stir in vinegar and salt to taste
• Cut the fennel bulb into thin cresents and add to beets
• Add capers and stir mixture to coat