Diary of a Foodie
Beets in Salt Crust
Diary of a Foodie: Season One: Living Off the Land
Serves4 (first course)
- Active Time:10 min
- Start to Finish:2 1/4 hr
ADAPTED FROM ALAIN PASSARD
January 2007
Alain Passard uses sea salt for his crust, but we took the liberty of substituting kosher salt, since to use such a large quantity of sea salt would be prohibitively expensive.
- 2 1/2 pounds kosher salt (about 7 1/3 cups)
- 5 to 6 large egg whites
- 2 (6- to 7-ounces) trimmed red beets (2 to 3 inches in diameter)
- Aged balsamic vinegar (preferably 25-year-old; see Cooks' note, below), for drizzling
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Put oven rack in lowest position and preheat oven to 300ºF.
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Put salt in a large bowl and stir in enough egg whites, 1 at a time, to make a mixture that resembles wet sand. Form a 1/2-inch-thick oval bed of salt mixture (large enough to fit beets; about 2 1/2 cups salt mixture) in a large shallow baking pan. Put beets in center of oval and pack remaining salt mixture on beets to completely cover them. Bake beets in salt crust 2 hours.
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Crack salt crust open with a large knife, being careful not to cut into beets. Remove beets and peel with a sharp paring knife. Rinse beets if necessary to remove any remaining skin and salt, then pat dry.
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Quarter beets and serve warm, drizzled with balsamic vinegar.
Cooks' note: Twenty-five-year-old balsamic vinegar is available online at gustiamo.com.
- Keywords
- diary of a foodie,
- beet,
- alain passard,
- vegetarian
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