b is for bodacious.

I promise you I’ll stave off the citrus posts after this one.

I actually made this for Valentine’s Day, but didn’t get a chance to talk about it until the second time I made it. What vegetable is more romantic than a beet? “Baby, I cooked for you, but not just anything, I cooked you a sweet tasty morsel from the earth chock full of B-vitamin folate and iron.” That is true love, folks.
I like to roast my own beets, especially when I can get my hands on the organic babies. Whole foods had them on sale for a while, so we were enjoying them on a blissful, weekly basis. I add just a few simple ingredients and cook them in a pouch in the oven until they’re all sugary and defeated. They’re also delicious raw and grated or shaved into a salad or slaw! I lovingly call their unique taste “earthy”, which to a lot of people means “dirty”, but I guess that means I’m big into dirt.

Roasted Beet and Orange Salad
One bunch beets (scrubbed, trimmed of their stems, halved if they’re huge)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Two blood oranges, one half zest reserved (or whatever you have around)
¼ of a medium red onion, thinly sliced
Balsamic Vinegar
Handful of torn, fresh tarragon

1. Preheat your oven to 400. Start by wrapping your beets in heavy duty aluminum foil (put a sheet pan underneath if you doubt the heavy-duty-ness), making sort of a pouch around them. Drizzle in olive oil and a fair amount of salt and fresh cracked pepper and close ‘r up.
2. Open your pouch after about 35-40 minutes, when you start smelling the beets and test them by inserting a paring knife – if it comes out easily you’re good to go, if not, give them another 15-20 minutes. Take them out, open and let them cool.
3. Slice the peel off of your oranges with your paring knife, revealing just the flesh and no pith. From here, you can just slice rounds of the orange into the bowl, or slice out segments. I do this over the salad bowl to catch all of the juices.
4. Add in your onions, tarragon, zest and a splash of the vinegar. Sprinkle with salt and let it sit while you wait for your beets to cool enough to handle.
5. Peel your beets and cut them into a size relative to your orange slices, right into the salad bowl. Your oranges should have created a good amount of juice by now and will only need the oil from your pouch, or possibly a little more to make a yummy dressing for the dish.
6. Test your seasoning, adjust if needed – dig in!


This is super tasty – especially the next day after sitting in the fridge. In my carefree, dairy-loving past I’ve enjoyed this salad with goat cheese and toasted walnuts. Without, though, I guarantee your tastebuds are satisfied and grateful enough just to experience this sweet/salty/savory mélange of flavors.