For those of you who read my post on Moroccan Chicken, you would have seen that it was served with several salads, as is traditional in the Middle East. One of my favorites is Moroccan Beet Salad. I have made it totally from scratch by cooking my own beets and I have made it using canned beets as well as the pre-roasted and peeled beets that you can now buy in most produce sections of the bigger markets. Unless you REALLY love to roast and peel beets or want the beet greens to make another Moroccan salad, I frankly don’t taste any significant difference in the more convenient beets I have used. And let’s face it, with most of us also working, I’d rather spend my time creating great meals with totally acceptable short-cuts than proving how authentic I can be. This salad can be made doubled or tripled or cut in half. Once you learn what goes into it, you just adjust the seasonings. It will last up to a week if refrigerated, although we generally eat it up long before that.

Moroccan Beet Salad

Yield: About 12 portions as a salad with other salads

Ingredients

12 beets, cooked and peeled and cut into strips (I slice the beets and then cut the slices into strips)

1 rounded teaspoon minced garlic

About 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin or to taste

Kosher salt to taste

About 2-3 Tablespoons EVOO

Juice of one lemon

1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, minced

Directions

Gently toss all of the ingredients together and adjust seasonings to suit your taste. No one ingredient should overwhelm. Make this several hours ahead to improve flavor. Just before serving, scatter some additional chopped fresh parsley on top.