Beet and Feta Salad

Last night, I found myself wandering around the produce section, longing desperately for summertime.

I didn’t find much (considering it’s Tennessee in March, which means the weather’s too confused for anything to grow), but I found enough to make a salad for today’s lunch. You see…I never get to eat lunch. I cook at work during the day, so I never really have time to eat til dinner.  Which sucks, because lunches are the best.

So, I made this salad, AND you should make this salad. Its stupidly simple and different from your typical lettuce+other veg+dressing=salad. It satisfied my urge for something fresh and crunchy and not cooked in butter.

First…I’m gonna take a quick detour and show you a picture of my new knife! I’ll ramble on more about her (yes, she’s a girl) in an upcoming post, but I just wanted to show you how pretty she is.

Anyways, first you’re going to chop the tops and bottoms off of some beets & save the greens. Then you’re going to roast them covered til they get fork tender (I don’t have a picture of this because I forgot…that’s my only excuse haha).

Let them cool and then use a kitchen towel to rub the skins off. Don’t use a white towel like I did…because then your boyfriend will get mad at you for staining (your already stained!) towels.

Next, take your beets and cut them into 1-inch chunks and throw them in a bowl. Set them aside and wash your beet stained fingers.

Hopefully your fingers aren’t as gross and un-manicured as mine. Cook’s hands are not pretty.

Now, take those beets and mix them with the rice vinegar, EVOO, and chili garlic sauce.

This beautiful condiment is Chili Garlic Sauce. Chili Garlic sauce is made by Huy Fong, the same people that make Sriracha. This stuff is like Sriracha’s cooler older brother, who drives a Camaro and has a full sleeve tattoo. I put it in EVERYTHING. Go buy it. NOW. (This is not a paid endorsement. This is just a damn fine condiment.)

Remember those greens you saved? Wash & dry those…then we’re gonna stack them up on top of each other and roll them up like a cigar.

Then, we chiffonade! Which is just a fancy word for saying you sliced up that cigar.

This turns the greens into a pretty little pile of ribbons.

Then, slice up an apple suuuuuuuper thin. Or just as thin as you want. Either works…but you MUST toss these with some rice vinegar or other acid right after you cut them so they don’t get ugly and brown.

Combine the feta, apples, and greens. Place some beets on a plate and top it with the apple mix and more feta. Season it with good coarse salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Drizzle with olive oil.

Eat it and be happy that you’re having lunch. Because, I sure did.

Beet and Feta Salad – serves 2

2 medium sized beets (greens intact)

1 small tart apple (McIntosh or Granny Smith)

3 T feta cheese

1 T + 1 t rice wine vinegar

2 T extra virgin olive oil + more for drizzling

½ t Chili Garlic Sauce

salt & pepper to taste

• preheat oven to 400°F
• trim beets of greens and roots, reserve greens
• oil beets and roast, covered for one hour until fork tender
• let cool 15 minutes, then rub with towel to remove skins
• cut beets into 1 inch cubes, combine with 1 T rice wine vinegar, 2 T olive oil, and ½ t Chili Garlic Sauce. set aside.
• wash and dry trimmed beet greens, chiffonade into ¼ in strips
• thinly slice apple and toss with 1 t rice wine vinegar
• combine apples, beet greens, and 2 T crumbled feta
• divide beets between 2 plates, top with apple mixture
• sprinkle with reserved feta, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil
• enjoy!