Beet, Walnut and Blue Cheese Salad

*Post by Angela.

I'M MELTING!!!! This was the scream on the lips and in the eyes of everyone I saw around me during the District's recent unforgiveable heat wave. When it's miserable outside like that, figuring out what to make for dinner boils down to two factors: (1) finding something that minimizes cooktime and (2) finding something filling enough that I won't be hungry again in an hour, yet light enough that I won't feel gross after eating it (since I carry around 2 extra pounds of sweat on hot days). While I kind of sort of botched that first consideration (the beets do take about an hour in the oven), I fully achieved my other objective - this is a tasty, satisfying, light meal, with a wonderful variety of flavors and textures.

List of ingredients for the salad:

• 4 large beets
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 5 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp freshly black pepper
• 2 green onions, minced (white and light green parts only)
• 1 bag of mixed greens
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (I used glazed walnuts)

Beets are pretty unattractive in their raw, unpeeled state, aren't they? For the longest time, I wouldn't even try them because I felt that such ugly lumps (dug out of the ground!) couldn't possibly be meant to put in my mouth, much less taste good.

I scrubbed them, drizzled them with olive oil, wrapped them completely with foil and roasted them in the oven for about an hour at 350 degrees (until fork tender).

I unwrapped them, let them cool a little bit, then peeled them.

Usually when I order beets at restaurants, they are sliced, but I like them diced. They're like little jewels!

I set them aside, then whisked together the oil, vinegar, garlic, green onions, sugar, salt and pepper.

I tossed the greens together with the beets and dressing, then topped it all off with some crumbled blue cheese and walnuts. Nowadays, I simply cannot understand how some people don't like beets - thank goodness Mark's started to come around on them. I love how earthy, yet sweet they are. And in keeping with my healthy eating mindset, they are low in calories and are said to protect against heart disease, birth defects and certain cancers, especially colon cancer. Plus, they are the perfect foil for the pungency of blue cheese (another obsession). Cooked beets keep in the fridge for awhile, so even though I had to turn the oven on for an hour, I had enough beets to keep me in heat-beating heaven for days.

Comments

[michelle]

YUM! I've always liked beets but never tried cooking them myself since well, I didn't know how. Now paired with a yummy recipe I am definitely gonna try now!

[Angela]

YAY! Cooking them is so easy! I went through a phase last summer and made them every other day. Sometimes, I'll just eat beets by themselves as a snack.

[W. Mark Felt]

That's the exact same way I roast my beets, except I have been peeling the skins before roasting. I think your way seems to make more sense. The dressing looks tasty too!

[Angela]

WMF-
Yep, the skins come off really easy after roasting, but have to be careful not to burn yourself...The dressing was really light, which worked well with the blue cheese.