Beet Salad with Mint Vinaigrette

Beet Salad with Mint Vinaigrette.I love beets for the same reason I love pumpkins, carrots and mangos: just because of their color.I remember my Mon always telling us that something with “that” color must be good and healthy and nutritious. I still think she is right.Beets were part of my diet since I was a little girl. My Grandma Ligia, used to serve them in salads and I loved them like I loved whatever she cooked.
This year, we started to grow our own beets. Those I used in this recipe were from our final harvest (I’m already planting new seeds).This recipe, however, is not my Grandma’s, but my own version of Armando Scannone’s Beet Salad. I found it in Mi cocina – A la manera de Caracas (My cuisine, Caracas’ way), by far the first Venezuelan cookbook that became a best seller.I got it for my 24th birthday. It was a present from my Mom. I got an autographed copy, kindly dedicated by the author, after I interviewed him back in 1986.For us Venezuelans “The Scannone,” with capitals, as we call this book, became our cooking Bible. I have being consulting it for more than 25 years. It has the merit of compiling and preserving for future generations, the flavors, colors and textures of our childhood so we can cook the way Grandmas in my hometown used to feed us.In this recipe I add raw onion rings and do not use any garlic. I chose extra virgin olive oil instead of vegetable oil, and honey instead of sugar. While Don Armando removes the mint leaves from the vinaigrette, I chop them and keep them because I love to feel its unexpected faint, yet crispy flavor.