Roasted Beet Salad

I think that beets get a bad rap in this country, or maybe in general. So many people find them unpleasant, for whatever reason, but I think their distaste is directed most of the time towards beets of the pickled, canned variety. The canning and pickling gives beets a unique tangy metallic quality which I can understand not being matched to everyone's palate.


That said, I really like beets. I love them best roasted until caramelized, and then eaten in a simple salad of arugula, goats cheese, olive oil, and basalmic vinegar. Fresh beets, shucked of their dirty skins and slow roasted in olive oil and coarse salt; are completely different animals than their pickled cousins.


I would ideally have this salad with either a soft goats cheese or a mellow bleu cheese, but I didn't have either, and those two cheeses are one of the very few things Chris is picky about. Turned out he's picky about beets, too, but that's beside the point. The feta works nicely, though, with a sharp saltiness that plays off of the beets sweet earthy flavors and tangles nicely with the juicy tangerine.


My roasting technique borrows from a few people. Ina Garten recommends peeling the beets before roasting them, but she also recommends slicing them up and roasting them in a roasting pan, which I didn't do. Martha Stewart recommends roasting the beets whole wrapped in aluminum foil lined with parchment paper.

Roasted Beet Salad
serves 2-3

for the roasted beets:

1 bunch red or yellow beets (about 3 medium)
coarse sea salt
freshly ground pepper
olive oil
apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.


Trim the beets of their root and greens. Peel them completely, using a standard vegetable peeler. Place a layer of parchment paper on top of a sheet of aluminum foil, place beets in the middle. Drizzle generously with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and splash a little bit of vinegar.


Wrap foil into a parcel shape, then roast in the middle of the oven for 1 hour, or until beets are tender enough to be easily peirced with a knife. Reserve juices for dressing. Let cool.

for the salad:

apple cider vinegar
olive oil
tangerine juice, reserved from segmenting
reserved beet roasting juices
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
dijon mustard
1 head bibb lettuce, torn into small pieces
3 roasted beets, sliced in wedges
1 tangerine, sliced into segments
feta cheese crumbles

In a jar or small bowl, shake or whisk together the roasting juices, vinegar, olive oil, tangerine juice, mustard, and seasonings until desired salad dressing flavor and consistency is reached. Divide lettuce among salad plates, top with beets, tangerine segments, and feta, and drizzle with the gorgeous ruby red dressing. Enjoy!