Enjoying the harvest!

One of the greatest moments of the summer, for me, has to be when the garden begins to ripen and you can finally taste the rewards of your hard work! This year we planted beets! I love beets, they are so delicious. I bought a pack of seeds for 50 cents and so far we've enjoyed over 20 tasty beets! What a bargain! Usually I just roast the beets on their own and slice them up and put them in our green salads that we have with our dinner every night. (I'll explain how to do that at the bottom of the blog) But, last week I asked my husband if he had any requests for meals for the upcoming week. I very rarely ask him this. Usually I just make whatever I want. But this roasted vegetable salad is by far his most requested item for me to cook. I can't really blame him, it is very tasty and a good alternative to your boring side dishes of frozen corn or peas. Roasting the veggies gives them such a lovely deep flavor, and the colors of this salad are just divine. This salad is especially good in the fall and winter when the root veggies are plentiful and nothing else really is. But this time, since our beets were ripe, I made it in the summer. I found this recipe from the Food & Wine Magazine, and it originally comes from the cookbook of Sophie Dahl (Roald Dahl's grand daughter and British supermodel) titled, Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights. Anyway....The recipe is a keeper!

A few things, I sometimes can't find both celery root and parsnips so often I just do one or the other. And another thing, I would recommend doubling this! It makes for good leftovers. As is, the recipe probably serves about 4. Oh, and also, I prefer this recipe with goat cheese instead of feta. I've tried it both ways, and the husband and I both agree the goat cheese is best!

Roasted Root Vegetable Salad 

Ingredients:

1 small red onion, cut into 1/2-inch wedges 
1 small sweet potato (about 8 ounces), cut into 1-inch pieces 
1 carrot, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces 
1 parsnip, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces 
1 small celery root (about 12 ounces), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces 
1 small beet, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces 
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 
Salt and freshly ground pepper 
1/4 cup walnuts 
1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar 
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard 
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley 
1 ounce feta, crumbled (1/4 cup) 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425°. In a medium roasting pan, toss the onion, sweet potato, carrot, parsnip, celery root and beet with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper and roast for about 45 minutes, stirring once or twice, until tender and lightly browned in spots.

Meanwhile, spread the walnuts in a pie plate and toast until golden, about 6 minutes. Transfer the walnuts to a work surface and coarsely chop.

In a large bowl, whisk the vinegar with the lemon juice, mustard and the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and fold in the parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Add the vegetables and walnuts to the dressing and toss. Top the salad with the feta and serve warm or at room temperature.

Make Ahead The roasted vegetables and dressing can be refrigerated separately overnight. Rewarm the roasted vegetables before serving.

How to Roast a Beet

Now, if you just want to roast beets for a tosses salad, here is an easy trick! Take a few beets trim the tips off but leave the peel on. Wrap the beets in tin foil. cook in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 4o minutes, or until the beets are easily pierced with a fork. Let the beets cool. Take a paper towel and gently rub the beets, the peel will come right off. Then you can slice them or dice them however you'd like. You can also quarter them, sprinkle with a little oil and vinegar, crack some salt & pepper on them and throw on some chives or basil and eat alone. Is very tasty!

They are also very good in a green salad with goat cheese, green onions, romaine lettuce and orange sections. The orange and the beets really compliment each other. I got this idea from Every Day Food. Yum yum! go eat a beet this week, I dare you!