I had beets, red grapefruits, fresh mint and a watermelon radish in the refrigerator and that is how I came up with this recipe. It’s sort of light and tasty with textures. I think most people would like it.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1 medium/small watermelon radish – sliced very thin on a mandolin (this gets fried and is used for finishing)

neutral oil for frying

1 lb beets – peeled – roasted and cut in wedge shapes like pieces of citrus

2 cups red grapefruit supremes and the fresh squeezed juice from the flesh around the segments

1 cup radish sprouts

1/4 cup (loose) fresh mint – torn (for finishing)

1/4 cup feta cheese – crumbled (for finishing)

1/4 cup red grapefruit juice (squeezed from the flesh that was around the segments from your grapefruits (dressing)

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (dressing)

1 Tablespoon tahini (dressing)

1 1/2 teaspoons red Aleppo pepper (dressing)

1/2 teaspoon paprika (dressing)

small pinch ground allspice (dressing)

1 1/2 teaspoons date syrup (you can substitute honey or sugar) dressing

small pinch cinnamon (dressing)

1/8 teaspoon ground coriander (dressing)

I Tablespoon chopped fresh mint ( dressing)

1 garlic clove -ground to paste or microplane (dressing)

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F if your beets aren’t roasted yet. The peeled beets get wrapped in foil with some water and go on a tray that can catch some liquid if they leak. They need to stay in the oven till fork tender. Depending on their size and age the timing will differ. Beets usually take one hour – one and one half hours. If you have very large beets you might want to cut them in half. When the beets are cool enough to handle cut them in wedges that are similar to citrus segments and set to the side.

Get a pot on medium heat with around an inch and a half of oil. You should use a thermometer and when the oil get to 200 you can start frying if your radish are sliced paper thin. You do need a pan lined with paper towels or a cooling rack for the beets to drain on. You can fry about a third of the beets at a time. They are done with they turn into a small flower shape like in the picture. Repeat till they are done and set the fried radish to the side.

Make the dressing. The grapefruit juice, olive oil, tahini, pepper, paprika, allspice, date syrup, mint, garlic, cinnamon, coriander all get blended together. I don’t think they need anymore salt or pepper but feel free to add some if you want.

When you are ready to serve dress the bottom of your serving plate with dressing. Add the beets, grapefruit and radish sprouts. Then it gets topped with some crumbled feta cheese, torn mint and the crispy fried radish.

Enjoy!