Southerners just love beets—perhaps because beets are one of the rare vegetables that will grow in the South straight through spring and summer and all the way into the fall. But I like to make this jewel-toned salad best in the spring, when you can get multicolor carrots, like Yellowstones, Purple Dragons, Atomic Reds, and Yayas, and beets, like Boros, Bulls’ Bloods, and Candy Stripes.

　　

Ingredients

serves 4 to 6

　　

Step 1

Combine the zest and juice of 1/2 orange with the zest and juice of 1 lime in a large bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

　　

Step 2

Add 1 pound trimmed and julienned or grated mixed beets, 2 large julienned or grated carrots, and 1 cup flat Italian parsley or cilantro leaves. Toss gently to mix, season with additional salt and pepper, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

　　

Know-how: Blanching Vegetables

Step 3

Blanching crispy vegetables like beans, carrots, and cauliflower is a way of flash-cooking them just long enough to unlock some of the flavor, enhance the color, and give the vegetables a nice, tender-crisp texture. It’s how you make crudités, but the technique is perfect for salads, too. All you do is plunge the vegetables in boiling water, taking care not to overcrowd the pot and cool the water, just until they are bright in color and barely tender, 30 seconds to 2 minutes (the time will vary depending on the vegetable). Then, using a strainer, transfer the vegetables immediately to a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and lock in the bright color and crisp texture. Cool completely before straining and continuing with your recipe.

　　Reprinted with permission from Sara Foster's Southern Kitchen: Soulful, Traditional, Seasonal by Sara Foster. Copyright © 2011 by Sara Foster. Published by Random House. All Rights Reserved.Sara Foster is the owner of Foster's Market, the acclaimed gourmet take-out store/cafés in Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the author of several cookbooks including The Foster's Market Cookbook, winner of the Best Cookbook Award from the Southeast Booksellers Association. She has appeared numerous times on Martha Stewart Living Television and NBC's Today show. She has also been featured in magazines such as More, House Beautiful, and Southern Living, and is featured regularly in Bon Appétit.