Healthy Borscht Salad with Juicy Beaujolais
These healthy recipes are all created to pair with wine (a 5-ounce glass has anywhere from 110 to 150 calories)—all for 600 calories or fewer.
The vegetables in borscht—beets, carrots and onion—get turned into a roasted vegetable salad and tossed with plenty of vinegar and dill. Instead of the usual sour cream that tops the soup, the salad gets served with tangy farmer cheese spread on pumpernickel toasts.
The sweet, earthy, minerally flavor of beets is notoriously hard to pair with wine but a juicy, low-tannin red like a Beaujolais works well.
Borscht Salad with Fresh Cheese and Pumpernickel Toasts
Active 20 MIN; Total: 1 HR
2 servings
3/4 pound carrots (4 medium), scrubbed and cut into 3/4-inch-by-2-inch pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 onion, peeled and cut into 10 wedges
3/4 pound beets (2 large), peeled and cut into 8 wedges
2 teaspoons red wine or sherry vinegar
1/4 cup dill plus more for garnish
1/4 cup quark or other low-fat farmer cheese
4 slices pumpernickel bread with raisins, toasted
1. Preheat the oven to 425°. In a large bowl, toss carrots with 1 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the carrots in one section of a large cast-iron or other heavy skillet. Repeat with the onion, followed by the beet wedges, arranging each of the vegetables in its own section of the skillet. Cover the skillet with foil and roast for about 20 minutes, until the vegetables are nearly tender. Remove the foil and continue roasting the vegetables for 10 to 20 minutes longer, until the vegetables are nicely tender and browned in spots. Let the vegetables cool to warm.
2. Return the vegetables to the bowl and toss with the vinegar. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add the 1/4 cup of dill and toss again. Transfer the salad to plates. Spread the cheese on the toasts, garnish with more dill and serve with the salad.
Wine 2012 Domaine du Vissoux Cuvée Traditionnelle Vieilles Vignes Beaujolais.
One serving 450 cal, 14 gm fat, 2.4 gm sat fat, 70 gm carb, 7 gm fiber, 13 gm protein.
Kristin Donnelly is a former Food & Wine editor and cofounder of Stewart & Claire, an all-natural line of lip balms made in Brooklyn.