I love the color of this salad but it wasn't what I originally intended. I picked up some golden and red beets yesterday at the farmer's market, or rather what I thought were red beets. It looks like a red beet on the outside, but lo and behold all kinds of colors inside, they're really beautiful. If you slice them in wedges they have a nice sunset coloring from pale yellow to deep red.

I think they're some type of chioggia heirloom variation, but I'm really not sure so I'll have to ask them the next time I go.

This recipe is loosely based on a New York Times recipe. The beets are roasted and the greens are blanched. I roasted the beets in olive oil but you can also roast them in water, which doesn't really sound right (roasting in water?) but that's the way they do it in the original recipe.

And the blanching. I read that when you blanch you should have so much boiling water that when you put the vegetable in the water it does not stop boiling, so I worked the greens in small batches, but still the water was not really a roaring boil even with a few leaves in. So while they recommended 1 minute, I boiled for close to 2 minutes. I changed the dressing to a dijon, I like the flavoring of something spicy with beets.

Recipe below.

Roasted Beet Salad + Greens
(adapted from New York Times)

2 bunches of beets with greens (golden and red)
1/2 cup roasted walnuts
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

Roast the beets:
Preheat oven to 425°. Trim the leaves off the beets leaving about an inch on the root. Scrub the roots clean and toss in large bowl with olive oil and salt. Place beets in single layer in baking dish, cover with foil and bake for about 45 minutes or until tender. Time will vary depending the size of the beet. Set aside to cool.

Blanch the greens:
Stem and wash greens. In a very large pot bring water to boil with some salt added. Add the greens (in batches if necessary) and cook for 1-2 minutes until they are bright green and tender. Remove and place in bowl of cold water with ice. Drain and squeeze out excess water. Chop greens.

Toast the walnuts:
Preheat oven to 375°. Place walnuts on baking sheet and bake 5-8 minutes (watch carefully as they can quickly burn once toasted)

Dressing:
Whisk together mustard and vinegar, slowly adding the olive oil.

Trim the beets and remove the skin, it should peel off quite easily. Cut in half and into wedges.

Toss dressing into greens, then add the beets. Top with roasted walnuts and feta cheese.

Note: For the photo I plated the salad as the original recipe indicated, but later I tossed everything together and I think it works better and still looks good.