I was recently served a salad with cooked beets and raw apples this past weekend at a wedding, and I really enjoyed the combination of flavors. In the recipe provided below, I have added some toasted walnuts, in addition to some crumbled Feta cheese and pickled red onions with garlic.
Beet, Apple, and Feta Salad
I was recently served a salad with cooked beets and raw apples this past weekend at a wedding, and I really enjoyed the combination of flavors. In the recipe provided below, I have added some toasted walnuts, in addition to some crumbled Feta cheese and pickled red onions with garlic.
Ingredients
- 2 beets (fully cooked, peeled, and cut into bite-sized pieces)
- 2 Tbsp champagne vinegar
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- ¼ tsp Kosher salt
- ¼ clove garlic (very finely sliced)
- ¼ small red onion (finely sliced)
- 3 Tbsp Extra Virgin olive oil
- 2 fresh apples (core removed, flesh cut into bite-sized pieces)
- 1 cup Feta cheese (crumbled)
- ½ cup whole walnuts (lightly toasted)
- 12 fresh chives (finely sliced)
Instructions
- Cook the beets with their skins on, submerged in boiling, salted water.
- Cook under the beets are until tender all the way through.
- *This can take around 90 minutes, depending on the size of the beets.
- When the beets are cooked, allow them to cool down for about ten minutes in a bowl.
- When the beets are cool enough to handle, use a paper towel to rub the skins off, and remove the skins from the beets.
- *Careful, beets are hot!
- Cut the root-end off of the peeled beets.
- Cut the remaining beet flesh into bite-sized pieces, and set it aside in a bowl.
- When the beets are cooked and cut, you are ready to start preparing your salad.
- Combine the champagne vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, and salt in a small mixing bowl.
- Add the sliced garlic and sliced red onions, and allow the vegetables to sit in the liquid for about five minutes.
- Add the olive oil, and stir to mix.
- When you have the remaining salad ingredients prepared, assemble the salads in bowls, with some of the cooked beets, cut apples, Feta cheese, and toasted walnuts.
- Add the red onions and garlic, along with the dressing that they were marinating in.
- Top with some finely-sliced fresh chives, and serve.
Notes
You can prepare the beets, garlic, and red onions well in advance of assembling the salad.Try to add the apples right before serving, as apples have a tendency to oxidize and turn brown in color rather quickly after being cut and exposed to oxygen.Feel free to add some greens to this recipe, such as Arugula or pea greens!