Beet and Blood Orange Salad
I love a beet, I haven’t done much with beets in my kitchen, but I do love them and generally try to get them into salads. It is so nice to be able to buy fresh beets here, they weren’t available in Rome and I had to buy them already cooked and peeled in little plastic bags. They were fine, but a lot of the flavor is lost in the industrial packaging.
Beet & Blood Orange Salad
- 1 raw beet
- 2 blood oranges, peeled and sliced crosswise
- 2 cups of fresh spinach (any leafy salad green will do)
- mint leaves to sprinkle on top
- ¼ cup of crumbled chèvre
Dressing:
- juice of 1 orange
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp grainy mustard
- 1 tsp honey
- 3 mint leaves, minced
- salt & pepper to taste
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil, add the beet and bring back to a boil. Depending on the size of your beet, the time it will need to boil will be different. 20-25 minutes for small beets, 30-35 for medium beets and up to an hour for large beets. It should be tender enough to pierce with the tip of a knife. Drain and douse with cold water. Once it has cooled off enough, peel and cut off the ends. Slice and cut into quarters.
You could arrange this salad on individual plates for a dinner party, or arrange it on one large plate to serve from.
Arrange the spinach on the plate (or plates) and layer with the sliced-cooled beets, blood orange slice, chèvre and mint leaves.
Whisk the dressing together and drizzle on the salad before serving.
Italicious 