In January after all the holiday gluttony (or even slightly sooner), I always want to pivot to something lighter. I often look to the Eastern Mediterranean for inspiration, counting on lots of bright flavors featuring spices, fresh herbs, lemon and olive oil.
I craved a scarlet-red beet salad, modeled on one I tasted in Istanbul a few years ago, and a large plate of herb-flecked rice — the kind you might find in Turkish stuffed grape leaves. But, rather than roll individual dolmas, I opted for a less labor-intensive family size package, wrapped in chard leaves. For dessert? A flaky, honey-drizzled apple tart.
For the best beet salad, cook your own beets — simply boil or roast them any time you have a free moment, even a day or two ahead. Then, slip off the skins while the beets are still slightly warm. Slice them just before you make the salad.
Bathe the beets in a simple vinaigrette with olive oil and citrus juice and zest, along with a little sumac or pomegranate molasses. To serve, toss with chopped celery and mint, then garnish with pomegranate seeds. It’s a feast for the eyes.
Now about the rice, meant to be assembled in advance. The rice is fully cooked — boiled in water like pasta. It’s then drained, cooled and generously seasoned with browned onions, chopped almonds and pistachios, raisins, lemon zest and juice, and lots of dill and tarragon, before being wrapped in large, blanched chard leaves and baked.
Make sure to dollop a large spoonful of unapologetically sour whole-milk yogurt on top of each portion before serving. A lot of American yogurts can be creamy and bland, not what you want here. Find more puckery yogurt at a Middle Eastern or Indian store, or add a bit of sumac or lemon juice.
For an easy, satisfying fruit dessert, phyllo dough is just the thing. You don’t have to make the pastry from scratch, but you still get a very flaky result. I topped mine with spiced sliced apples. Instead of the usual melted butter, I used fruity extra-virgin olive oil to paint the phyllo sheets and found it quite pleasant, especially with a final drizzle honey. Use butter if you prefer, and feel free to experiment with rolling the dough into cigar shapes or creating phyllo turnovers.
I consider this a casual meal, not a fancy dinner party. (Coming over for dinner? I’m making a couple of tasty dishes; we’ll eat in the kitchen.) I’d serve the beet salad and the rice side by side, and a big spoonful of yogurt to go with both. I’d be perfectly happy to have them together and call it a meal. But if your crowd would call that having a side dish for supper, the rice won’t mind sharing the bill with a roast chicken, a lamb chop, sautéed mushrooms or a piece of broiled fish.
