roasted beet salad with oranges, candied pecans and goat cheese

Ohh, this salad was sooo good. Best beet salad ever. The combination of roasted beets + citrus + pecans = delicious. It's another recipe using some of our CSA beets as well as winter greens (thanks, Sunseed!).  It was so beautiful to eat, as the beets colored the oranges bright pink - so pretty. I also got to keep practicing those knife skills, this time cutting an orange. (fun!)

ingredients
1 big beet or 2 little ones (makes extra)

1/2 to 1 orange per person
salad greens
goat cheese
pecans + sugar  (or walnuts)

vinaigrette: (makes extra)
garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, orange juice, dijon, salt and pepper

preparation:
1. Roast beets 1 hr at 375. Scrub beets clean. I had a big one, so I cut it in half. Toss with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, salt and pepper. Put face-down on a sheet aluminum foil and turn to cover (make a little foil package for the beets to roast in). After a hour, stick a fork in to make sure they're soft. Let cool, then peel, then cut into slices.

2. Cut orange: (1) First cut off round ends so you can see the fruit. (2) Set cut-side down and gently saw from top to bottom in a rounded motion, following the shape of the orange but cutting off the peel (with a flexible knife - boning knife works well). After you make the first cut you can see where you need to cut for the next one so you save most of the fruit and just cut off the pith. (3) Do this all around, flip, and clean off the pith from the other side. (4) Then cut along the white lines to cut out the orange wedges. (5) Result: You will get all the orange segments, free of pith and peel.

3. Make vinaigrette: Press one small clove of garlic in a jar, add 3 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp dijon, 1 tsp red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir. Hopefully you have some juice from the cutting process you can add as well. I drained my small cutting board over the jar :)

4. Toast Pecans: Toss a handful of chopped pecans into a small pan, toss around, DON'T BURN. When they are starting to toast, sprinkle a little sugar (1/2 tsp-1tsp) on them and let that melt. Remove from heat. Not just the pan, the nuts, or they will keep toasting and will burn. 

5. Plate the salad. Greens + oranges and beets + pecans + goat cheese + drizzle with vinaigrette. Enjoy!

This recipe is inspired by a recipe from Landgasthof Paulus (Saarland), in a book called Dialekt schmeckt: Köche aus der Großregion Saar-Lor-Lux päsenieren regionale Gerichte. Thanks to my wonderful teaching mentors Petra and Claudia for giving me the book after my year of teaching English in the Saarland!