Last weekend we did something that we really like but that we haven’t been doing for a while. We left early in the morning to go shopping at the St-Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto. We usually do our grocery shopping at the nearby grocery stores, mainly by lack of time. But once in a while it feels good to break the old habits. This time, no grocery list and going through the aisles of the store in a predefined order. We just randomly browsed through the market, getting inspiration from the locally grown produces. I spotted some beets and heirloom carrots and instantly I was craving for a nice fall salad.

This salad is all about crunch and vibrant flavors. The beets, fennel bulbs and heirloom carrots are thinly sliced on a mandoline for the crunch part. The flavors mostly come from the vinaigrette that is also use to quickly pickle the beets. It’s very bright and zesty thanks to the addition of ground green cardamom. I never thought about using green cardamom in a dressing before but it really brings some freshness. And that’s pretty much it for this salad, nothing crazy but I always like to try new salads. This one is healthy and dead simple to make.

Note: Please be careful when using a mandoline. It’s better to waste a little or finish with a knife than getting a bad cut. For the carrots, I use one thumb to push very slowly the back of the carrot and the other to hold it flat.