Orange & Beet Salad with Arugula & Pistachios

by Michelle Dudash, Chef and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

March 29, 2013 • 0 comments

You can’t beat beet salad

Beets are one of those love or “no, thank you” vegetables. If you’ve only experienced canned beets, freshly roasted beets will expose your taste buds to a whole new texture and natural, concentrated sweetness. And oh, the colors. Beets can be found in red, yellow, pink and even candy stripe.

Beet season peaks during the winter months and winds down in the spring. After that, pre-cooked beets can be found packaged in Cryovac in the produce section, a suitable and super-easy substitution.

To balance out the mellowness of the beets, acidic oranges and pungent arugula play off of each other beautifully. The oranges you see in this photograph are the sweet Cara Cara navel variety, which are available through April. Ironically, while their flesh is the color of grapefruit, they have lower acidity and are sweeter, which led me to add an extra splash of rice vinegar to the salad. And to shave off a few more minutes of prep time, you can skip the step of making the dressing separately and simply toss all of the ingredients together in a bowl. The final dish won’t be as pretty since the red beet juices will bleed into the salad, but it will taste the same—a shortcut I sometimes take when cooking for myself only.

Print Recipe

Orange & Beet Salad with Arugula & Pistachios

For the salad:

8 multi-colored baby beets, stems cut off, washed (you can save the leaves for sautéing in another dish, if you desire)

Kosher salt

1 large orange, peeled, pulp sliced crosswise into half moons

4 cups (60 g) lightly packed baby arugula

1/4 cup (31 g) shelled pistachios, papery skins rubbed off

1 medium avocado, sliced

For the vinaigrette:

3 tablespoons (47 g) freshly squeezed orange juice

2 teaspoons (10 ml) rice vinegar, or more to taste

1 tablespoon (15 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

1 pinch salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. Pour 3 small piles of kosher salt 4 inches apart on a sheet pan, about 3 tablespoons each.

To make the salad: Wrap 4 beets each in aluminum foil, pulling up the sides so the ends meet together in the middle where steam can escape. Place foil pouches seam side down on each salt pile, which allows liquid to drain from the beets, promoting roasting rather than boiling. Roast beets for an hour, until fork tender. Remove from oven and use a towel (one you don’t care about since beet juice stains) to peel off the skins while the beets are still hot. Slice each beet through the stem end into 4 wedges.

To make the dressing: Whisk together orange juice, vinegar, oil and salt.

Toss arugula, yellow beets (not red, which will “bleed” into the rest of the salad), and oranges in the vinaigrette. Lift salad out of the bowl, put on plates and toss red beets in any remaining vinaigrette. Top the salad with red beets, avocados and pistachios.

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cook time: 60 minutes

Makes 4 servings

Nutrition Facts (per serving): 207 calories, 14 g total fat (2 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat), 184 mg sodium, 0 mg cholesterol, 19 g total carbohydrate (7 g fiber), 4 g protein, 8% DV iron, 7% DV calcium, 14% DV Vitamin A, 67% DV Vitamin C.