Roasted Golden Beet Salad

What is your relationship with beets? Love them or leave them? I happen to absolutely love them. Since being a kid, I have had adoration for these root vegetables. Whether they are purple, yellow or the Chioggia version – simply doesn’t matter.

Speaking of being a kid, I recently browsed through an old photo album that had a photo of me when I was probably 3 or 4 years old, eating purple beets. My face and hands were covered in purple dye and I am sure it took days to completely rid myself of the purple stain.

Luckily my hubby adores beets as much as I do. Last weekend we took a jaunt over to the farmers market that is near our house and saw these beautiful golden beets just calling out to us. Hubby mentioned that I had not made the beet salad in a while, so the beets were quickly added to my ever growing bag of goodies. Not too mention, the bag was getting quite heavy by now. Smile.

This salad is simple yet the flavors are fresh, vibrant and delicious. You can certainly use fresh dill and I would suggest using less since the flavor is so strong. Adding other components to this salad could really kick it up. Perhaps crumbled blue cheese, cherry tomatoes or toasted pecans - what would you add?

Roasted Golden Beet Salad

3 Large Golden Beets
Olive oil
Sea Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Wash each beet and trim the leaves. Cut in half lengthwise and lay flat the 6 halves onto a baking dish with sides. Drizzle with olive oil and lift each beet to coat the bottom of each. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until tender. Let cool and then with a knife and your fingers remove the skin and any other portions you desire. Cut into small dices and let completely cool before adding the vinaigrette. Add some finely cut fresh chives to the salad.

Spring Onion and Dill Vinaigrette

3 T. Olive Oil
2 T. Champagne Vinegar
1 T. Sugar
2 t. Dried dill
2 T. Spring onion, minced

Add all ingredients to a mason jar and shake well. Let sit for one hour to develop the flavors before tossing with the beets.