Roasted Beets and Walnut Salad

If your only experience is pickled beets out of can, you’re in for quite a surprise. In this recipe, beets are roasted to bring out their sweet flavor. Beets may help protect against heart disease because they’re a good source of folate, manganese, potassium, fiber and vitamin C. Sadly, most beets are trimmed of their leaves, but the leaves are entirely edible. If you’re lucky enough to find beets with their leaves still intact, use them for the salad greens after trimming away the tough stems. If not, substitute arugula or spinach.

This recipe contains beets, cooking spray, arugula, onions (red), walnuts, walnut oil, cheese (goat), balsamic vinegar, sea salt, black peppercorns

4 Servings

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 30 min

Ingredients:

• 4 whole medium-sized beets, trimmed of leaves
• cooking spray
• 6 cup(s) beet leaves or other greens such as arugula or spinach
• 1/2 cup(s) thinly sliced red onion
• 1/4 cup(s) walnuts, toasted
• 1/3 cup(s) roasted walnut oil
• 1 pkg(s) 4oz. goat cheese (optional) for topping
• 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 - 3 ds. sea salt for seasoning
• 1 - 3 ds. fresh ground pepper

Instructions:

• 1. Set oven temperature to 400 degrees.
• 2. Trim the ends of the beets and scrub thoroughly. They don’t need to be peeled, but you may do so if preferred. Cut them into uniform-size pieces and scatter on a roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Season with salt and pepper, and lightly coat with cooking spray. Roast for 15 minutes, turn the beets over using a spatula, and roast for an additional 15 minutes until tender.
• 3. While the beets are roasting, trim the stems from the beet leaves and tear into bite-sized pieces. Rinse and spin-dry using a salad spinner. Place the greens in a large salad bowl.
• 4. Combine the oil and vinegar and whisk until blended. Toss the greens with half of the salad dressing and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the roasted beets, red onion, and walnuts on the greens. Drizzle the remaining salad dressing over the salad and scatter goat cheese on top, if using.