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A couple of weeks ago, I posted my recipe for millet cakes pictured with a roasted beet salad. I got the recipe for that beet salad from epicurious.com. While I was eating it, though, I thought, “this would taste so much better with oranges and a dressing made with Trader Joe’s Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar.” I fantasized about the next roasted beet salad I would make ever since. I had to get back to the farmer’s market to buy more beets. I had to pick up some oranges at the supermarket. I continued to develop thoughts about how my beet salad would come together and what flavors I should include. At the last minute, on the day I was finally going to make the salad, I ran out to buy feta cheese, because I imagined that the saltiness of the feta would nicely complement the sweetness of the beets and oranges. I was right–I tried it with and without the feta and the feta definitely makes it much, much more delicious.
Sustainable cooking and eating requires local ingredients. I am proud to say that I purchased most of the ingredients for this recipe from the farmers market. Beets, shallots, honey and pea shoots are all available from local sources where I live (in Nebraska). You might even be able to find locally produced feta cheese in many places.
This salad is hearty, so you can serve it with a light main course for a complete and satisfying meal. We ate it with pumpkin ravioli. Yum!
Dressing (you will probably have more than you need for this salad):
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
3 TBS Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar (I found this at Trader Joe’s)
1 tsp honey
¼ tsp sea salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
6 or 7 small-medium beets
2 naval oranges, peeled and broken into sections
1-2 cups pea shoots
feta cheese
Wash beets and trim greens off. Wrap tightly in foil and bake at 400 degrees for an hour and a half, approximately. Let cool, then slip skins off with your fingers and slice.
Put beets with orange sections and pea shoots into a bowl. Pour dressing on, toss, then crumble feta cheese over all. Serves 3-4.