Roasted Beet, Orange and Feta Salad

Roasted Beet, Orange and Feta Salad

Ed recently had a hankering for beets so I made this salad. It’s very refreshing and hit the spot!

I’ve made this salad using different kinds of cheese (blue, goat) and also without the cheese (I’ve added pepitas and chick peas on occasion).

Roasted BEEt, ORANGE AND FETA salad

• 4 medium beets

• 1 navel orange

• 3-4 medium scallions, chopped

• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

• 2 teaspoons grated fresh orange zest

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Scrub the beets, then wrap them tightly in aluminum foil. Place the package on a baking sheet and roast the beets for 40-70 minutes, depending on size, or until they are tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife. Let cool, then unwrap and peel the beets. Cut the beets into bite size pieces and place them in a bowl. Peel the orange, remove the pith and cut the flesh into bite size pieces and add them to the beets. Add the scallions, feta cheese and orange zest and toss the ingredients to distribute them evenly. Pour in the olive oil and toss the ingredients to coat them with the oil. Add the vinegar and toss again.

Makes 4 servings

Beet Salad with Baby Arugula, Red Onions and Horseradish Vinaigrette

Jonathan Swift once said that it was a brave man who first ate an oyster.

I’ll say something similar for horseradish. Whoever first tried it must have been awfully hungry. Horseradish is truly ugly, with an irregular shape and knobby bumps and hairy tendrils growing out of it. So it isn’t as if that brave soul couldn’t have resisted.

In addition, once you get through horseradish’s mottled, uneven, earth-colored peel you meet up with knock-you-over vapors so strong and pungent that they irritate your eyes and make your nose run. 

Well, whoever that was, I’m sure glad he/she did.

Horseradish is a wonder. I always have some in the house. So many things to do with it:

mix it with ketchup for homemade cocktail sauce

mix it with butter for use over steamed veggies

mix it with plain Greek yogurt for sauce over roasted salmon

mix it with creme fraiche as a topping for vegetable hash or frittata

And zillions of other things.

But horseradish makes a special presence during Passover, first as the bitter herb at my Passover table and second, as a replacement for the Dijon mustard that at other times is key to the vinaigrette dressings I use over salad.

For example, this Beet Salad with Baby Arugula. I often serve beet salad at my Seder in place of the fish course (because my daughter Gillian is allergic to fish). The recipe here is this year’s edition.

Beet Salad with Baby Arugula, Red Onions and Horseradish Vinaigrette

6 medium beets

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1 tablespoon freshly grated white horseradish

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

3 cups packed baby arugula

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Scrub and trim the beets, cutting away the greens, if any. Wrap the beets tightly in aluminum foil and roast for about one hour or until the beets are tender. Remove the packet from the oven, open the foil and let the beets cool. Peel the beets, cut them into bite-size pieces and place in a bowl. Add the onions, horseradish and dill and toss the ingredients. Pour in the olive oil and cider vinegar and toss the ingredients. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place equal amounts of arugula on each of 6 plates. Arrange the beet salad ingredients on top. Let rest for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings

An InLinkz Link-up

Roasted Beet Salad

Recipe for Roasted Beet Salad

When I was a youngster, I thought beets only came in a can. They were either whole, sliced or diced and they were a great relief from the usual diced carrots and peas (also from a can).

In the 1950s canned food was the great liberating thing for women — who could make dinner quickly by just opening …. a can of something to go with whatever meat they were making.

Cooking real, fresh beets does take more time than opening a can. But roasted beets are so sweet it’s worth it. All you have to do really is wash them off, wrap them in foil and put them in the oven.

Yesterday I roasted beets and made a salad out of them. Thanks to my new herb garden, I was able to include fresh mint and dill, just snipped from a few steps away from my kitchen. Here’s the recipe:

Roasted Beet Salad:

• 1 bunch beets (12-16 ounces), trimmed

• 2 tablespoons chopped red onion or 2-3 scallions, chopped

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Scrub the beets and wrap them tightly in aluminum foil. Roast until tender, about 45-75 minutes, depending on size. Unwrap the beets and when they are cool enough to handle, peel them. Cut the beets into bite size pieces. Place the beet chunks in a bowl. Add the onion, olive oil, wine vinegar, lemon juice, dill and mint. Toss ingredients. Let rest for 15 minutes before servings. Serve at room temperature.

Makes 4-6 servings