The Very Best Beet Salad

We have been making this for a really long time.  There is just something about the earthy flavor of the beets with the freshness of the parsley and the salty tang of the feta.  "They are REALLY good friends." as my daughter likes to say.  This recipe pre-dates our CSA life. But has been very handy since beets seem to be standard CSA fare.   

The Very BEST Beet Salad

Ingredients:

1# Beets, beets rinsed and cleaned with a vegetable brush.
      Large beets - trim leaves and root, cut into 1 - 1½" pieces.
      Small beets - 1-2" diameter, ok to leave - 1-2" stems, trim root.

1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/3 cup crumbled feta
Olive oil

Optional:
Balsamic vinegar
Green leaf lettuce/arugula
toasted pine nuts or walnuts


1.    Toss cleaned beets in 1-2 tsp of olive oil.

2.    Lay beets on a foil-lined roasting pan.  Roast in a 400°F oven for 15-20 minutes or until a knife can slide in easily.  Remove from oven and allow to mostly cool.  (See grill method below.)

3.    Transfer beets to a bowl and toss with feta, parsley and a drizzle of olive oil. 

At this point, it makes a wonderfully easy and delicious vegetable side.  But you can also convert this to a salad:

4.     Toss beet mixture with some leafy green lettuce and arugula (we love the peppery bite) and toss with 1-2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.  Toss in some toasted pine nuts or walnuts for crunch.


Notes:

• It's a little easier to clean the grit off beets if you soak them for a bit in water.
• To pan toast pine nuts or walnuts, pour into a pan and turn on heat to medium low.  Stay very close and shake/stir the pan every couple of minutes until they are the color you want. Cool 10 min before tossing into the salad. 
• If it's too hot to turn on the oven, enclose the beets drizzled with olive oil to a double layer of foil, close and roast indirectly on a grill for about 20-30 minutes.  The actual time will depend on how hot your grill is.