Beet and Carrot Salad

I've never even thought of eating raw beets. This sounded like a nice update of the standard carrot salad.  It's tangy and goes nicely with some hummus.

I omitted the tabasco sauce and I took a couple handfuls of baby spinach and tore it up into the salad. Some crunchy rice noodles would also be good here.

If you let it sit for a while there will be quite a bit of liquid.  I got tired of grating carrots and started just using a peeler but I eventually went back to the grater. What you see in the picture is how much I made using 2 carrots and one small beet.  (I was making this for one.)  I also combined the beets, carrots and spinach before dressing them. I didn't need to be concerned about the beet color "bleeding" since this was just for me.  It's very filling.  Recipe courtesy of epicurious.com.

14 cup shallot (minced) 2 tbsps peeled fresh ginger (minced) 1 garlic clove (minced) 14 cup rice vinegar (Asian markets and some supermarkets) 1 tbsp soy sauce 12 tsp toasted sesame oil (Asian)

tabasco (taste) 12 cup olive oil 4 cups shredded carrots (finely) 4 cups beets (finely shredded peeled raw, 34 pound) 1 leaf spinach (washed thoroughly for garnish if desired)

1	In a blender purée shallot, ginger, and garlic with rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and Tabasco. With motor running add olive oil in a stream and blend until smooth.
2	In separate bowls toss carrots with half of the dressing and beets with remaining half. Divide carrot salad and beet salad among 6 plates and garnish with spinach leaves.