Hardwood Grilled & Smoked Beet & Leek Salad
Like many chefs lately, I’ve been playing with vegetables and fire. I’ve mainly been playing around with all of the variables, from wood and charcoal choices to proximity to the fire to the length of the grilling and smoking, and enjoying all of the discoveries those experiments have revealed.
This new dish alert results from much of this activity, and I’m thrilled with how it turned out. After four different iterations, I landed the fifth and final plate here.
It is a cold salad made of red and gold beets smoked on hickory until the skins could slip right off. I then tossed them in grapeseed oil, salt, and pepper, lowered the grill to just off the pale gray coals, and grilled them until they developed some good color.
I also grilled the leeks with oil, salt, and pepper. I let the green ends cook longer than the whites. This way, the whites of the leeks are sweet, and the greens are crispy, almost like a potato chip.
To that, I add cooked red lentils, mint, and pickled shallots, tossing the whole thing in a garlic lemon sauce that started as a Lebanese toum, to which I added a Meyer lemon salsa. Toss, toss, toss, and then to the plate.
It’s delicious and available right now to add to the menu for your next dinner party. It’s not too soon to start thinking of your Summer entertaining. I am.
