Marinated Beets with Blood Orange and Avocado

This salad is excellent and satisfying by itself or as an accompaniment to a protein like fish, chicken or beef. You can even dress it up with some feta or goat cheese, blue cheese or ricotta salata

Ingredients

• Assortment of red and gold fresh beets
• 2 lbs chioggia, green trimmed
• 3 blood oranges, sliced
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tablespoon coriander seed
• 1 tablespoon mustard seed
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil, high quality
• 1 cup celery leaves
• Kosher salt, to taste

Preparation

• 1 Place the beets, separated by color and type, into a pot of water and boil until tender. You should be able to pierce them easily with a knife. When they are cool enough to handle, remove the beet skins using a towel or a paring knife. Reserve.
• 2 Place the vinegar, sugar and spices in a saucepot and bring to a boil. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and remove from the heat; cool. Pour the mixture directly over the beets and allow to marinate overnight.
• 3 Slice the beets before serving. In a large bowl place the clean celery leaves, blood orange slices, beets and diced avocado.
• 4 Sprinkle a pinch of kosher salt, if desired and drizzle enough extra virgin olive oil to coat; toss. Spoon onto a serving plate and garnish with some of the celery leave on top. Drizzle a little more olive oil, if desired.