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Show Your Liver Some Love With This Beautiful Beet Salad

Author:

Leah Vanderveldt

March 25, 2017

By Leah Vanderveldt

mbg Contributor

Leah Vanderveldt is an author living in Brooklyn, New York. She received her bachelor’s in communications and media from Fordham University, and is certified in culinary nutrition from the Natural Gourmet Institute. She is the author of two cookbooks: The New Nourishing and The New Porridge.

March 25, 2017

Your liver is constantly working to keep your body functioning properly; it figures out what's beneficial and what's waste from all the stuff you consume. This is no small feat, which is why it's nice to help the liver out from time to time with foods that aid its detoxifying powers. Enter the beet.

Beets are high in antioxidants (just look at that color!) and contain cleansing and detoxifying elements including betaine, which helps the liver cells eliminate toxins; pectin, a fiber that clears the toxins that have been removed from the liver so they don't reincorporate back into the body; and betalains, pigments with high anti-inflammatory properties to encourage the detoxification process.

Plus, they're delicious. And versatile. Check out this recipe from Egg Shop: The Cookbook by Nick Korbee that makes eating beets more delicious than ever.

This psychedelic Mediterranean-inspired salad marries bright, fresh ingredients with sweet, earthy roasted beets and perfectly cooked eggs. It tastes as good as it looks on the plate, and all the ingredients make for good snacks.

Roasted Beet Tzatziki Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 cup Beet Tzatziki (recipe follows)
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
1 yellow heirloom tomato, finely diced
1 Persian (mini) cucumber, finely diced
½ teaspoon red chile flakes
2 radishes, sliced into very thin rounds
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1 cup equal parts torn fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, dill fronds, and mint leaves, plus extra for garnish
2 tablespoons buttermilk
Sea salt
1 cup pickled beets or roasted beets, peeled and chopped into 1-inch cubes
Pinch of ground sumac, for garnish
Extra-virgin olive oil, for garnish

Method

1. Spread the tzatziki on two serving plates and top with the eggs.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the tomato, cucumber, chile flakes, radishes, poppy seeds, fresh herbs, and buttermilk. Season with a little sea salt.

3. Broil or sauté the pickled beets to slightly caramelize and blister the outer surface.

4. Top the eggs with the cucumber-tomato salad and the hot beets. Garnish with more herbs, a pinch of sumac, a little olive oil, and the pickling liquid from the beets.