Red Beets Carpaccio and Herring

This is a combination I love for all my life. My Grandma made salad with the basic ingredients all the time and I grew up with it.

But this is Grandma´s Salad 2.0

I was looking for a starter for my dinner date with friends this weekend. I found this recipe in my scraps of different recipes.

Use freshly cooked beets if you get them. Then you are able to check how soft you like them. I had to buy precooked ones, the fresh beets were not available. Use young herring, it is called Matjes here in Germany. They are very soft and light in taste. They match very well with the other ingredients.

recipe for 3 as a starter:
250 g Matjes herring
300 g red beets
1 large shallot
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
100 g sour cream
30 g mixed fresh herbs or dill
1/2 lemon juiced
1 tsp agave syrup
salt and pepper
30 g pumpkin seeds

Cook the beets and peel them and cool them down. Slice them in thin discs.
In a small pan roast the pumpkin seeds without oil. Season them with salt.
In the same pan heat up some oil and toss the halve onion rings in and saute them until soft and light brown. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the sugar over and let it caramelize. Then pour the vinegar in and let it cook down. Cool down.

Mix the sour cream with lemon juice, fresh chopped herbs, agave syrup and salt and pepper.

Use a large plate and fan the red beet slices out. A bit of salt on top of them helps.
Pat the Matjes herring dry and cut them in 1 inch pieces. Get them on top of the beets.
Put the onions in between the herring pieces and pour sour cream dip in the middle.
Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.