Shredded Beet & Carrot Salad with Avocado, Oranges, & Citrus Vinaigrette

Who likes to turn the oven on in the summer?  No one!  Who is finally making regular use of the food processor R gave me in December, instead?  Me!  I usually prefer my beets roasted to the point of caramelization, but once the summer heat hits, I vastly prefer cool, fresh salads that do not turn the kitchen into a sweltering pit of hell.  In that vein, here is a very beautiful salad that's super simple if you've got a food processor handy.  If you don't, then this'll probably require more elbow grease than I would ever be willing to devote to a meal.  

A note on beets & aesthetics: maybe you're at the store, and they have a big bin of rainbow colored beets.  Maybe you think, "I shall make a salad all the hues of the rainbow, excepting green & blue!"  That is not how beets work.  It'll be radiant for 2 minutes, but then the purple beets get on the yellow beets and turn them gray and sad and it's very disappointing.  Stick with one color, if you can.  

For the beet-haters, R once counted himself among you, but he likes this salad.  Well, his words were, "I would probably like this if I weren't sick."  Please take that ringing endorsement for what it's worth.  This is basically a hybrid of this recipe and this recipe.

Recipe for  Shredded Beet & Carrot Salad below the jump

3 raw beets, peeled, cut into chunks, and shredded

3 raw carrots, peeled & shredded

1 orange, sectioned

1 avocado, diced
1 small jicama, peeled & diced

1 shallot, finely minced

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

a couple of glugs of olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp orange juice

1/4 tsp lemon zest

1/4 tsp orange zest

salt & pepper to taste

Combine the beets, carrots, orange & avocado in a bowl.  Whisk the dressing ingredients together, and pour over the salad, tossing to combine well.  Eat right away, if you want, but you can also wait -  it's even better when it sits a while.  You could probably add in some herbs (I didn't have any on hand) or sprinkle with pumpkin seeds (I was going to, but forgot.)