This “plated” beet salad feels luxurious and impressive, yet is incredibly easy. It requires little cooking, other than the roasting of the beets, which can be done a day or two ahead of time. It can also be made family style. Like all of my recipes, the below is more of a methodology than anything. As always, add or replace depending on taste preferences.
Serves ~4
This is meant to be a high-end, small plate salad. I approximate ~1 beet per person.
| Beets | ~4 beets |
| Good Olive Oil | I use Calivirgin |
| Salt | Maldon is best |
| Lemon | ~2 lemons |
| Goat Cheese | Enough to be sprinkled on each serving |
| Fresh Herbs, e.g., Mint, Parsley, Dill, Basil, etc. | Enough to be sprinkled on each serving |
| Marcona Almonds | Enough to be sprinkled on each serving |
| Thick, Good Quality Balsamic | I use Calivirgin |
STEP 1
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the stems off the beets. Don’t worry about peeling the beets, they’re easier to peel after they’ve roasted. Wrap the whole beets in aluminum foil (you can drizzle some olive oil over them before hand). Bake for ~50 minutes, or until you can nicely put a fork into the beets (similar to a potato).
STEP 2
Once done baking, let the beets cool and then peel the skin off. If using a peeler, the skin will fall right off. After skinned, cut the beets in thin slices, ~1/2 cm. If making ahead of time, store the beets in the fridge until ready to serve. The salad is best if the beets are fully cooled before serving.
In the meantime, mince 1) herbs and 2) pistachios or almonds, which will be used as garnish. Of course, you can mince these ahead of time to make assembly easier.
STEP 3
Begin assembling the salad ~30 minutes before serving. Lay ~4-5 beet slices per serving, depending on size, on 4 plates. Salt each beet and let the salted beets sit for ~25 minutes before putting the below finishing touches on the dish.
After sitting, squeeze a ~2-3 small drops of fresh lemon juice on each beet on each plate. Crumble and sprinkle goat cheese over beets. Sprinkle a generous pinch of herbs over beets and sprinkle a generous pinch of almonds over beets. Drizzle a tad of olive oil and good quality, thick balsamic over beets. Serve.
TIP: Assemble these in an assembly line format:
- Plate beets on all plates first.
- Salt all beets (then let sit).
- Squeeze lemon over beets on each plate.
- Crumble cheese over each plate.
- Sprinkle herbs over each plate.
- Sprinkle chopped almonds over each plate.
- Drizzle olive oil and balsamic over each plate.
