Does anyone else find it difficult to buy sunglasses?
I own two pairs of sunglasses and one of them isn’t comfortable so I really only have one pair. Spring is almost here and I need to step up my game in the shades department. My local Macy’s recently added a sunglass hut so I checked it out yesterday. I spent an hour there and I left with nothing. An hour. Sigh. It shouldn’t be this hard, right? Okay, I’m done looking for sympathy. 😉
Anyway, the other day I was looking through a cookbook and found this recipe. Coincidentally, I recently saw The Pioneer Woman make a similar beet salad on her show. This must be a sign… I must make a beet salad.
Beets are so underrated. They are absolutely delicious especially when you roast up a bunch of fresh ones. The secret here is that you roast them whole in tin foil.
This method is good for two reasons. First, you don’t get frustrated trying to peel an oddly shaped veggie. Second, when you roast them whole in a convenient foil wrap, they will hold more of their natural juices and not dry out. Once the beets are done cooking you simply need to rub off the skin with some paper towels. No peeler required for moist and delicious roasted beets.
By the way, I went the semi-homemade route with the dressing today. The original recipe calls for sherry vinegar and oil but I didn’t have that kind of vinegar. Worse, I thought that plain vinegar would work. It so doesn’t. Blah. Having failed miserably to make dressing with the wrong kind of vinegar and not really knowing the ratio to oil to use, I decided to use one of those super convenient pouches of “make your own salad dressing” with their equally convenient bottle that has labeled lines on the side so you can’t get it wrong.
Let’s not forget about the lovely goat cheese and pistachios that accompany the beets in this salad. All together they make for a tasty combination of flavors and textures. This was certainly a successful recipe. If only I could be equally successful with finding an awesome pair of sunglasses.
Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Pistachios Recipe
(2 servings)
Ingredients:
- 1 pound fresh beets
- 1 pouch of Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing & Recipe Mix (This will require that you also have vinegar, water, and oil.) *
- 2 cups lettuce (I used baby spinach and a Spring mix combo of red romaine, kale, arugula, radicchio, and other similar lettuce types.)
- 1 ounce goat cheese (equivalent to 1/4 cup crumbled)
- 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios
* Note that this pouch will make salad dressing for way more than the 2 servings this salad makes. If you’ve never used this stuff before, make sure you buy the kit that comes with the bottle the first time.
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cut the stems off of the beets, Rinse the beets with water (to clean off the dirt) and dry them with a paper towel.
- Wrap the beets individually in aluminum foil and place them on a cookie sheet. You don’t have to peel off the skin yet! Yes, really. That comes in a later step.
- Bake the beets in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until it’s easy to poke a tester into the center of a beet.
- Remove the beets from the oven and carefully remove the foil. Be careful of the steam that will come out.
- When the beets are cool enough to handle, rub off the skins with paper towels. No peeler!
- Cut the beets into quarter wedges and set them aside to let them cool to room temperature.
- Prepare the salad dressing according to the recipe on the box. I used balsamic vinegar because I think it’s tasty but you can use any kind you want.
- To prepare each salad dish, place half of the lettuce on a plate, top with half of the sliced beets, half of the crumbled goat cheese, and half of the chopped pistachios. Then pour on as much salad dressing as you like.
Adapted from: America’s Test Kitchen: The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook
Here are some other sexy salads.
Falafel-Spiced Roasted Chickpea Salad
As much as I like beets, I have never tried cooking fresh beets. You make it sound so easy. Maybe I’ll give it a try. Thanks Tina.
It definitely is easy! If you try it, let me know how you make out. 🙂
I have been on a beet salad kick lately – I love the addition of the goat cheese and the pistachios!!
And yeahhh I have had the same pair of sunglasses for so long (I love them and fiercely protect them and am terrified of losing them because I love them so much!! haha)
Haha… I’m glad that I’m not the only one!