Beet Carpaccio: A Humble, Elegant Starter

Yesterday was a fucking, terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
It’s started with a blood test (I hate blood tests, they make me insanely paranoid).
It continued with a call to Cigna, our health insurance. I don’t know what is worse, the part that you speak to a robot for a few minutes until you shout at it “OPERATOR!!!” or the part that the robot transfers you to a human being, that happened to be a robot himself.
After I was done talking with robots, I had to drive to the bank to get a cashier’s check to send to Cigna. I arrived to the bank without my wallet. Urgh! Accidentally, I grabbed the wrong bag (I forgot that I used the black bag the day before so I drove back home, and grabbed the black bag and drove back to the bank. And guess what?!? My wallet wasn’t in this bag either URGH!!!!!
I didn’t know if I should punch myself hard or laugh at my stupidity. Apparently, I left my wallet on my desk when I removed my insurance card to call the insurance company. Jesus Christ!

The rest of the day continued to be a fucking terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day but at least I learned a few lessons and had a yummy dinner.

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Forget fashion, stick to one bag!
Sometimes it’s better to procrastinate.
If you nerves about your blood test results don’t do errands 🙂

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Now to beets. I only started to like them at my twenties. As child I refused to taste them. My mother made them on a weekly basis. Now they are one of my favorite vegetables. I add them raw or cooked to salads, cakes, stews or I simply shave them with a Japanese mandolin and serve them with some olive oil, lemon juice and coarse salt and sometimes with burrata.
There are three ways to cook beets:

My favorite way is to wrap them in wet baking paper (this way it’s easier to crumple the paper) and roast them in a 400°F preheated oven for about 40 minutes (if the beets are big and bulky, cut them in half before you cook them).
Quarter them and steam them in a steaming pot or basket.
Simmer them in water for about 40 minutes until they are tender.

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Beet Carpaccio

2 cooked and peeled beets
olive oil (you can also mix a teaspoon of truffle oil to add a gourmet flavor)
Lemon juice from half lemon
Salt & pepper
Sumac – optional
Basil or any other herb such as parsley, fresh oregano
Burrata cheese – optional

How to:
Use a sharp knife or Japanese mandoline to slice the beets as finely as you can. Place the slices on a large plate. Drizzle olive oil, and squeeze the lemon over. Sprinkle salt and pepper, and sumac. Place the burrata in the center and garnish with basil.

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