Roasted Beet and Blood Orange Salad with Spicy Greens Recipe

By carol gorman

Ingredients

• 11/2 lbs medium gold beets
• 11/2 lbs medium red beets
• Extra virgin oil
• salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 6 small blood oranges
• Blood orange sherry vinaigrette
• 1/4 lb baby arugula
• 1/4 lb spinach
• 1/4 cup sherry vinegar
• 1/4 cup finely chopped chives

Details

Servings 8
Adapted from 101cookbooks.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Trim the tops and roots from the beets and wash well. Place the red beets on a piece of foil large enough to fold over and seal. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Seal the foil and repeat with the gold beets. place both foil pillows on a sheet tray and roast in the preheated oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the beets are tender when pierced with a knife. Allow the beets to cool and then peel.

While the beets are roasting, peel the oranges with a serrated knife and remove all of the white pith. Slice into rounds 1/4-inch thick. Remove the pips and reserve the slices in the refrigerator unless you will be using them within 2 to 3 hours.

Wash the arugula and spinach well and spin dry. Mix the greens together and reserve covered with a damp towel in the refrigerator.

Cut each peeled beet into eight wedges. Keep the red and gold beets separate or their colors will bleed together. Toss each color with 2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar; season with salt and pepper. Allow the beets to marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

In a large bowl, toss the beets and their juices together with enough vinaigrette to coat; add the orange segments and toss gently so that they don't break up.

Drizzle the greens with vinaigrette to moisten and toss with the beets and blood oranges; season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with the chopped chives. You may also place the greens on a large platter and serve the beets and oranges on top.

Serves 8.

In a medium bowl, whisk the juice with the shallots and the sherry vinegar; season with salt and pepper to taste and let the mixture marinate for 10 minutes.

Whisk in the olive oil to taste. Add more olive oil if the vinaigrette is too acidic for your palette. Adjust the seasoning to taste.

Makes 1/2 to 3/4 cup.

A great broccoli recipe, one of my favorites! Tiny green florets, crisp apples, crunchy shallots, candied nuts and slivered red onions are tossed in a barely sweet, creamy almond vinaigrette. Add baked tofu or pan-fried tempeh and you can easily turn this side into a main course.