Beets with Avocado Puree and Pumpkin Seed Crumble
At his award-winning Aziza restaurant in San Francisco, Moroccan-born chef Mourad Lahlou has featured beets on the menu since day one and has prepared them in countless ways. He thinks the musty, earthy quality of beets calls for something fluffy and creamy, and eventually he arrived at whipped avocado. You can make this salad with one kind of beet, but an assortment of colors (and their respective, quite distinctive flavors) is more fun. When you include red beets in the mix, cook them separately (as directed here) so they won’t turn the other beets red.
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
Counts 12 of 18 ingredients — the other 6 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume — 12 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Avocado | 1 medium (150g) | 240 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Bread | 1 slice (30g) white | 79 |
| Grapefruit | 1/2 fruit (123g) | 52 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Beet | 1/2 cup (85g) | 35 |
| Wine | 2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml) | 25 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Cardamom | 1 tsp ground (2g) | 6 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Star Anise | not in our table | 0 |
| Coriander | not in our table | 0 |
| Seed | not in our table | 0 |
| Pumpkin | not in our table | 0 |
| Chervil | not in our table | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- 6 cups warm water
- 1/2 cup sherry vinegar
- 2 Tbs. kosher salt
- 6 star anise
- 2 tsp. Tellicherry peppercorns
- 2 tsp. green cardamom pods
- 2 tsp. coriander seeds
- 12 small golden beets, each 1 1/2 oz.
- 12 small Chioggia beets, each 1 1/2 oz
- 12 small red beets, each 1 1/2 oz.
- 6 Tbs. pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
- 2 Tbs. dark or light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
- About 1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt, to taste
- 1 ripe avocado, halved, pitted and peeled
- 1/3 cup milk
- Kosher salt, to taste
- 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tbs. crème fraîche
- 2 pink grapefruits
- Extra-virgin olive oil as needed
- Micro-greens, preferably bull’s blood, chickweed or chervil
- Crunchy sea salt for sprinkling