This is the salad I made the other night in lieu of (a) making a trip to the grocery store in the rain or (b) ordering in. I had planned to roast the beets, which I bought at the Union Square Greenmarket earlier this week. But then I thought, aren’t they healthier eaten raw? I seem to remember reading that in the New York Times this week, in their article The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating. Yes: heating decreases their antioxident power. And really, it was too humid to turn on the stove.
My vegetable crisper contained a lone apple, so that got thrown in, and the only nuts in the house were pine nuts. Well, pine nuts are lovely when toasted, I thought, and I do have some goat cheese, which tastes delicious with beets.
So I threw it all together with a balsamic vinegrette, and ended up with a crispy, crunchy, earthy, tart and sweet dinner salad.
Ingredients:
4 small beets, peeled and chopped into tiny bite-sized pieces
1 apple (I used Golden Delicious; Granny Smith would be nice)
2 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted
1/4 cup goat cheese
Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. balsamic vinaigrette
1/4 tsp. stone ground mustard
Pinch salt
Pinch pepper
Peel and chop beets. Toast pine nuts in a small saucepan; set aside to cool. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper.
Toss beets in a bowl with toasted pine nuts. Add vinaigrette, then goat cheese, crumbled. Chop apple into pieces and sprinkle on top.
[...] Raw beet, apple & pine nut salad. [...]