Meatless Monday: Baby Beet Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

Baby Beet Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

For this special edition of Meatless Monday, click on over to West Hollywood Patch to view my recipe for Baby Beet Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette.

This lovely salad combined roasted baby beets with a Greek-style goat's milk feta cheese, organic mixed baby greens, and sunflower seeds. The whole salad is topped with a light citrus vinaigrette. It's a healthy, delicious recipe that's perfect for lunch or a starting appetizer for a dinner party.

Going forward, I'll be writing a regular column called "Farm to the Table" for Patch featuring weekly recipes based on my finds at the West Hollywood Farmers Market. So stay tuned -- I have some great stuff planned!

Here's my recipe for Baby Beet Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

Roasted Baby Beets with Balsamic Vinegar, Garlic & Thyme!

Only two days until... wait for it... I travel to Floyd, Virginia!

Alright, that might not exactly be breaking news, but I'm excited to spend the holidays with my parents, even if I'm going to be Adorable Monster-less (he's going to our wonderful dog sitter's house).  So that means that I'll be eating and cooking in residence again in Virgina.  Should be a blast!

In the meantime, I want to keep bringing you holiday recipe ideas, and today we're focusing on beets!  These little suckers have been popping up in great big bunches all over my farmers market.  My fridge is packed full of then, in all sizes.  Tis the season to eat beets (sorry Obama!)!

Not only are these babies nutritional powerhouses (they contain powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against heart disease, birth defects and certain cancers, especially colon cancer), but they're delicious eaten raw or roasted up in your oven. They also come in an array of colors from white to golden to beet red, and their greens are edible, too!

This recipe is a snap to make, and the combination of flavors from the balsamic, garlic and thyme make this a stunning and satiating dish!  I used both golden and red beets, but any type will do.  These roasted beets work great as a stand alone side dish, perfect for holiday entertaining, or stir them into risotto for a bloody colored, bloody good feast (click here for my recipe for Roasted Beet Risotto).

Roasted Beets with Balsamic Vinegar, Garlic & Thyme
Serves 3-4 people

1/2 lb of beets, tops removed (baby beets don't need to be peeled)
4 sprigs of thyme
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 cloves garlic, smashed with skin on
salt & pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Halve the larger beets to make them all about the same size for even cooking.  The smaller ones can be cooked whole.

On a big piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper, place the beets and the smashed garlic cloves.  Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

Wrap up the aluminum foil to enclose the beets, or fold up the parchment paper to make a sealed packet. Place the packet on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 40-60 minutes, or until the beets are fork tender.

To serve, they're beautiful right in the packet, or they can be spooned into a bowl, or if you're feeling extra fancy, stirred into risotto.  Enjoy!

Source for Ingredients:

organic baby beets, organic garlic, Mission olive oil, organic thyme from Hollywood Farmers Market

Villa Manodori organic balsamic vinegar from Amazon

Roasted Beet Risotto!

Hey Divas, so I've often blogged about the wonders of risotto, a dish I love to make. I inherited this affection from my mother, the Original Diva. When I was a kid, she ventured to Italy for the first time and returned with this wondrous recipe, the likes of which I'm about to share with you. It was Roasted Beet Risotto. These potent little suckers pack a huge nutritional punch and turn the risotto an unbelievable deep purple hue that has to be seen to be believed. You can follow the basic recipe to make risotto as the beets are only added at the end. This is a dish so delicious it could even convince President Obama to eat beets! So without further ado, here's my recipe!

Roasted Beet Risotto

4 beets
1 tsp thyme
3 tbsp olive oil
1 cup arborio rice
2 shallots chopped
1/2 cup white wine
4 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade - click here for my crock pot chicken stock recipe)
1 cup parmesan reggiano, grated
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cut the greens off the beets and set them on a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle them with 1 tbsp of olive oil, then sprinkle with the thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Then, fold them up in aluminum foil and roast them for 40 minutes, or until soft. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool. Then, remove the skins and chop them.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add the shallots, sauteing until translucent, about 8 min. Then add the rice and stir for about 1 minute. Add the white wine, stirring until absorbed by the rice. Add the chicken broth 1/2 a cup at a time until fully absorbed and the rice is cooked.

Finally, when the rice is cooked al dente, add the chopped beets, stirring to combine. Remove from the heat and stir in the parmesan cheese. Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!