Roasted beet and arugula salad

Roasted beet and arugula salad offers a medley of sweet, savory and peppery flavors. Beetroot, commonly known as beets are deliciously tender and flavorful when roasted. They are relatively low in calories, but high in nutrients which makes them a great vegetable to add to salads for variation in flavor and texture.

Roasted beets are the star of this tasty fresh salad

Simple flavorful ingredients

This roasted beet and arugula salad features roasted red beets, blanched green beans, arugula and chevre (a soft delicate goat cheese). It is dressed simply with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. It is a simple salad with a flavor punch. If you like nuts, I suggest adding in some toasted walnuts for additional crunch. This is a great salad to have on the side with a Sunday roast.

Chevre goat cheese is creamy and savory in this salad

Arugula is one of my favorite salad greens. It is also known as rocket lettuce. It has a slightly bitter and peppery flavor. I was first introduced to arugula while living in Southern Italy. A common salad to enjoy there was simply arugula dressed in extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. When the greens are fresh and organic, they are incredible. We recently started growing arugula in our backyard garden patch over the summer. It’s so good fresh out of the garden!

Blanched green beans and roasted beets

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Green beans are an easily sourced vegetable with loads of protein and fiber. They are delicious blanched and served cold in salads, like this lemony green bean almondine salad. The green beans picture above had the stems trimmed. Then they were cut into 1 inch pieces and blanched in boiling water for two minutes. After two minutes, I use a slotted spoon to scoop them out and plunge into a bowl of ice water. This stops the cooking and keeps the bright green color of the beans. If you are not a fan of green beans, you can easily substitute them with canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans) or cannellini (white) beans.

Preparing the red beetroot

The roasted beets in this salad are the star of the show. Beets are a very common vegetable used throughout the world in many different kinds of cuisine. I grew up having them in borscht, a Ukrainian beet soup. My mom makes the best borscht. Roasting the beets makes them tender and mellow. This is my favorite way to cook them. They are far better than canned beets and worth a second try if you’ve never had them roasted before. You can use the red beet, golden beet or mix of the two in this salad. Either are great. For this recipe, I roast the taproot portion of the vegetable and use some of the leaves in the salad. Beets have a deep reddish color. To prepare the beets, I wash them in cold water before removing the stems and root portion. I peel and smooth out the top portion of the beet before cutting them into small pieces. The red pigment can stain clothes and hands. This is something to be careful of. If you wash your hands right away with soap, the pigment usually comes right out.

A not-so-boring, bright and colorful salad

Preparing and storing vegetables

I find the best way to get a variety of not-so-boring vegetables into our diet is to make a batch of veggies ahead of time. Roasted vegetables are just as good cold or room temperature as they are hot fresh out of the oven. This is a great way to “eat-the-rainbow” and get your vitamins. They can then be popped into salads for a quick lunch or dinner. Store roasted or blanched vegetables in containers in the fridge for several days. Another vegetable storage idea I’ve used for “salad bar” veggies is to store the chopped and prepared veggies in a sectional veggie tray like this Rubbermaid Party Platter in the fridge. This becomes our own “mini-salad bar.”

Have you had beets lately? You might be surprised how delicious roasted beets are. I hope you enjoy this roasted beet and arugula salad. Leave me a comment below about your thoughts and experiences with this recipe.

Happy cooking! Michelle

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Roasted beet and arugula salad

1. Serves 4

2. Prep 10 mins

3. Cook 40 mins

Roasted beet and arugula salad offers a medley of sweet, savory and peppery flavors. Beetroot, commonly known as beets are deliciously tender and flavorful when roasted.

**To roast the beets**

1. 6-8 medium to large beets (red or golden beets)

2. 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3. 1 pinch fine sea salt

4. 1 pinch freshly ground pepper

5. 1 tsp dried thyme

6. a large rimmed baking sheet

**To blanch green beans**

1. 1/4 lb fresh green beans

2. small pot of boiling water

3. small bowl of ice-water

**Remaining salad items**

1. approximately 5 cups arugula

2. approximately 2 cups beet leaves (torn or cut into pieces)

3. 2-3 oz chevre goat cheese, crumbled

4. extra virgin olive oil, for dressing salad

5. juice of half a medium sized lemon, for dressing salad

6. salt and pepper to taste

7. 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, optional

8. lemon wedges for garnish, optional

Begin by rinsing and cleaning all the vegetables. Rinse and spin dry the arugula and beet leaves. Trim the ends from the green beans and cut them into one inch pieces. Trim the stems and root ends from the beets. Use a vegetable peeler to clean up the tops of the beetroot.

**Roasting the beets**

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Cut the beetroot into small to medium-evenly sized pieces. For example, cut one of the beets in half. Then cut in quarters and again etc.

2. Lay the beets on a sheet pan. Drizzle the extra virgin olive oil all over them. Season with sea salt, pepper and thyme. Shake the pan or use tongs so that the beets are all coated with the oil.

3. Bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until a fork easily pierces though the beet. They will shrink slightly in size. Transfer the cooked beets to a plate lined with paper towels to cool.

**Blanching the green beans**

1. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Add the green bean pieces and cook for two minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked green beans to a bowl of ice-water. Allow the beans to cool for a minute, then transfer to a dinner plate lined with paper towel to drain.

**The salad**

1. Mix together and lay out the arugula and beet leaves on a large platter. Top with the cooled green beans and roasted beets.

2. Dress the salad with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil all over the salad. Squeeze the lemon juice all over the salad. Season the salad with a scant pinch of fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

3. Top the salad with chevre goat cheese and toasted walnuts (optional). Serve with lemon wedges for garnish.

Notes:

· I hope you enjoyed this roasted beet and arugula salad. I’d love to hear your comments

·  Beets contain red pigment. This pigment can stain clothes and hands. Use caution. The pigment usually comes out easily of you wash your hands immediately with warm soapy water.

#arugula #beets