Saturday, June 30, 2012

Beet salad with Blue cheese and pecans



Roasted Beet Salad with Blue Cheese and Pecans



CSA ingredients: beets









Beets- some people love them, others hate them, most just don't know what to do with them so they avoid them.  The tops are great greens for cooking (see greens recipe).  I love them roasted and than chilled as served in this salad.

Roasting the beets

Turn oven to 350 degrees. 

Cut the green tops off to the very top of the beet.  Remove and thick stem on the bottom as well.  Wash them.

Wrap each beet in tinfoil.  For small and medium beets I will put 2-3 in each foil wrap.  Place on a roasting pan. 

Place roasting pan with beets in oven and leave alone.  Small beets=40 minutes, medium=50 minutes and large= 60 minutes.  They are done when you can put a fork through them easily.

Once they are done roasting let them cool at room temperature (30-60 minutes).

Now you can peel them.  I just rub the skin with my hands and it just peels right off. Don't worry if you get pink hands- it washes right off once they are cooked.  I find it difficult to peel them raw and my hands get stained.  Once cooked it is very easy. 


Chill beets (can stay chilled up to 5-7 days)






Preparing the salad.  This serves 6.

While oven is hot for cooking beets plan to toast the pecans.  Toasting them really enchances the flavor for this dish- don't skip this step.

To toast pecans put chopped pecans on baking sheet and toast 2-3 minutes at 350 degrees- watch closely they can burn easily!

Salad

4 cups mixed greens (could use argula or bibb lettuce as well)
2 cups sliced chilled roasted beets (awesome if you have two colors such as salad above)
1/2 cup blue cheese
2 tbsp chopped toasted pecans

Dressing

2 tbsp orange juice
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp chopped shallots
1/2 tsp salt


To make dressing put the above ingredients into a mini food processor and chop until well blended (if shallots very finely chopped can simply mix in a bowl). 

Toss greens in dressing evenly.  Put 1/6 of greens on each plate.  Top with sliced beets, blue cheese and sprinkle toasted pecans over top.  Serve.


Alternatives:

You can use goat cheese instead of blue, or try walnuts, candied pecans, or spicy pecans. You can also add citrus such as peeled oranges slices and/or grapefruit slices for another version.  Want to use more greens? Just make more dressing and you wll be all set.

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