Beet salad with goat cheese & green beans

This salad is complicated, but worth the trouble.  Not only was it completely delicious, it felt pretty righteous what with the amaranth, beets, beans, and greens.

So, you kind of have to do this one in steps but here are all the ingredients:

• 5 medium/small beets, grated
• 1 small sweet onion, chopped small
• 1 leek, white part only, minced
• 2 cups green beans, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped small
• a mixture of salad greens, arugula, and amaranth greens.
• goat cheese
• 1 tablespoon butter
• olive oil
• dried oregano
• salt & pepper
• walnuts (optional)

Amaranth is actually the same plant as pigweed, a common farm weed. Cultivated amaranth is yummy and fairly spinach-like. It is nutrient dense and a nice purple and green color. It's also sometimes called Chinese spinach.

So, first, combine the grated beets with the leek and onion in a baking dish with a teaspoon of olive oil.  Add salt and pepper.  Roast at 400 for about 25 minutes.  Check and stir every so often.

Meanwhile, clean and prep the green beans and garlic.  Melt a tablespoon of butter and 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a frying pan with a light sprinkle of dried oregano, salt, and pepper.  Add the garlic and cook on low heat until it starts to turn transparent.  Add the green beans and stir constantly on slightly higher heat.  after five minutes add a few handfuls of water (probably 2-2 1/2 tablespoons) of water.  Stir to combine then turn the heat down a little bit and cover so the beans will steam.  It should take about seven minutes, stirring every few minutes.  Be sure the garlic and olive oil mix doesn’t burn-check often.

Combine all your wonderful salad greens in a big bowl.  You can splash a little balsamic vinegar on them if you like.

Now, the green beans and the beets should both be done.  Either combine them with the salad greens in the larger bowl, or mix them in your bowl individually.  Top with crumbled goat cheese and crushed walnuts.

In the end: wonderful slightly warm beets and green beans on salad with walnuts and goat cheese

in the beginning: grated beets waiting for onions and leeks

Roasted Veggies and Salad

Our salad days are beginning:

Tonight, a balsamic and parsley glaze over roasted beets, carrots, and turnips with a cilantro and chickpea salad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roasted Beets, Carrots, & Turnips:
4 beets, cut into small pieces
6-8 small turnips (3/4-1/2 inch diameter), roughly chopped
8-10 small carrots, roughly chopped
1 small spring onion, chopped small
a medium handful of garlic scapes, chopped small
A small handful of parsley, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced OR a teaspoon of scape pesto
1 tablespoon chopped walnuts
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

What to do:

1. Put the beets, turnips, carrots, onion, and scapes in an 8inch pan and toss with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

2. Roast at 400 until somewhat soft, not mushy.

3. While the veggies are roasting, combine the parsley, garlic/scape pesto, and walnuts in a saucepan.  Add 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil and a teaspoon balsamic vinegar (or more if you like).  Cook over very low heat for several minutes then set aside.

4. When the veggies are ready, pour the glaze over the top, stir a little, and eat.

Chickpea and Cilantro on Salad:
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Handful of cilantro (maybe 6-7 stalks), chopped finely
Generous handful of snap peas, shelled
6 small radishes, chopped finely
7-8 garlic scapes, chopped finely
Green part of 2-3 scallions, sliced
Enough salad greens to fill your salad bowl (we added some spinach to the mixed greens & head lettuce)
Olive oil, salt, pepper
Dressing:  More olive oil & vinegar of some kind (chive is excellent; white wine or balsamic is great too)

1. Chop up the cilantro, shell the peas, chop the radishes and garlic scapes, and slice the scallions.  All of these things are optional except for the cilantro so mix & match to your heart’s content.  Put it all into a bowl and add a tablespoon or two of olive oil.  Add salt and pepper.  Stir it together well and set aside.

2. Wash your salad greens and tear/cut them into pieces of a manageable size.  (Librarian has a certain aversion to too-large salad greens, but feel free to skip this step if you’re not so inclined.)  Put into big ol’ salad bowl.  I like to add some salt and pepper to the greens and mix it all around a bit.

3. We mixed together the two parts of this salad (greens vs. cilantro/chickpeas/radish mix) individually, and added oil and vinegar to taste.

Homemade Croutons:

Then, on top of the salad, these excellent croutons, from the closet-dweller’s brother-in-law:
Eaqual parts olive oil and butter, salt, pepper, slices of bread, cut or torn into small pieces.
1. Melt the butter in a frying pan with an equal amount of olive oil.

2. Mix in salt and pepper quickly.

3. Put the bread in and stir constantly over medium heat until crispy and delicious.

4. Eat.