Autumnal Salad, Starring Beets and Arugula
As seasonal as it is healthful, this salad is also totally delicious. Photograph by Hadas Margulies
As the weather gets chilly, I tend to forget how satisfying a good, hearty salad can be. But then, fresh beets at the farmer’s market remind me that I still need to eat my veggies.
This salad, packed with beets, arugula, orange slices, marinated onions, walnuts and goat cheese, is a full meal. I wouldn’t ask you to go through the work of making it if it weren’t. And beets, by the way, have more betaine than any other veggie. According to traditional Chinese medicine, which I study at the Academy of Healing Nutrition, they are extremely cleansing for the liver and blood. If you’re not a borscht fan, this salad might give you another opportunity to make friends with your liver.
Autumnal Beet and Arugula Salad
This is a free-form salad, so I’m not a stickler for quantities here. Mix your marinade and your dressing to taste.
Serves 3-4
1 beet
1 onion
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Sliced fresh basil, dill or cilantro
Sea salt
Pepper
Dried thyme
Walnuts
Goat cheese
1 avocado
1) Wrap your beet in tin foil and roast for 40 minutes. When ready, you can easily peel the skin off the beet with a paper towel. Chop into medium-sized chunks.
2) Slice the onion into thin strips and marinate in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, basil and thyme. While the onion is marinating (and the beet is roasting), supreme your orange.* Save the membrane for the dressing.
3) To make the dressing, squeeze the membrane left over from the orange into a separate container. Mix with olive oil, about 3 times as much oil as juice.
4) Add dried thyme, salt, pepper, and a tablespoon of mustard if desired. Mix or shake well.
5) Cut your avocado into cubes.
5) To assemble the salad, mix your arugula with the beets, onions, orange slices, some walnuts, goat cheese and avocado. You can even add some lentils for an extra filling meal. Toss with the dressing.
*To supreme an orange, slice off the peel, then cut the sections out at an angle, while leaving all the white pith.
Hadas Margulies is the food intern at the Forward. Find her at HadasMargulies
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