Just an absolute masterpiece of a salad. This zesty salad dressing perfectly compliments all of the bright flavours in this salad. I like serving this with oven-baked chicken breasts for a complete and filling dinner!
Ingredients
Large container of mixed greens, about 11 ounces
6 medium sized beets
1/2 cup walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts or almonds, coarsely chopped
Small package of goat cheese, about 4 ounces, I used cranberry coated
1 English cucumber, seeded, peeled and thinly sliced
1 avocado, thinly sliced
- For the Zesty Salad Dressing:
2 TBSP honey
1 1/2 TBSP Dijon mustard
1 shallot, minced
3 TBSP red wine vinegar (I've increased that to 5 TBSP successfully in the past)
1/2 tsp fine salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup oil
4 oven-baked chicken breasts, optional, recipe available here
Directions
- While the ribs are cooking, preheat the oven to 400F. Scrub the beets and cut off the roots off the beets. Cover each beet in aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 1 - 1.5 hours until tender when tested with a butter knife (which should go all the way through the beet with little resistance.) Remove from the oven, allow to cool a bit, peel and slice into wedges. While the beets are still warm, add a little bit of the dressing (that we make in step 2) and toss. This will make them absorb those delicious flavours. Refrigerate the beets until needed.
- For the dressing, combine all the ingredients except the oil in a small bowl and whisk. While whisking, pour in the oil to emulsify it. Taste the dressing and adjust the seasoning to taste.
- Add your greens and cucumbers to a large bowl. Pour in about half of the dressing and then toss the salad to make sure each leaf is coated with the dressing. Then add more dressing as desired (try not to use all the dressing or the salad will be overdressed and soggy.) Transfer the salad to a large bowl, top with beets, avocado, goat cheese, nuts and chicken, if using. Enjoy!
