Salad with Candied Beets and Feta

Tackling the all too frequently feared beet!

Photography by Benner!

I am always surprised when strangers ask me about beets.  I eat them weekly; I think they're delicious; they are easy to cook, but it seems as though few people are as aware of these facts as I am. They really are nature's candy. You just cook the heck out of them, and then they taste great.  This is a simple candied beet salad. You can use any variety of lettuce; I used a red head (Wishingstone Farm). There is also crumbled feta in it from Narragansett Creamery. I also recommend pine nuts in this salad, I chose to not include them this time. The beets are from Four Town Farm.




Ingredients:

• 8 small beets (Four Town Farm)
• 1/3 extra virgin olive oil (Whole Foods 365)
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/4 tsp of dry thyme
• 1 pinch of brown sugar
• 1/2 Narragansett Creamery Sea Salt Feta Cheese
• a little less than 1 head of red lettuce (Wishingstone Farm)
• 1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts (optional)

Directions:

                         For the Beets:

1. Preheat the oven to 430 F.
2. In a bowl, combine olive oil, brown sugar, salt, and thyme
3. Thinly chop the beats into circles. Then chop each piece in half so that they look like half moons (see image above).
4. Put the beets in the bowl, and mix well. Make sure that all of the beets get a nice coating of olive oil on them.
5. Place the beets on a baking sheet. The beets should not touch.
6. Bake the beets for about 17 minutes. The beets are done when you can easily stick a fork in them. It is also ok to adjust the oven's temperature higher, up to 450F.
7. Remove from the oven, and let cool for about 4 minutes

For the Salad:

1. Wash the lettuce and tear leaves into mouth-size pieces.
2. Mix the candied beets and crumbled feta with the lettuce.
3. Mix in the toasted pine nuts (optional)
4. Mix well and serve with your favorite oil-based dressing.