Jill's Roasted Beet and Apple Salad

No Matter how you slice it this Roasted Beet Salad is Scrumptious!

Diced

Sliced

Strips

For my birthday this year Jack took me for a night away. We shared an incredible dinner together at the Pollard in Red Lodge, MT. I ordered a Apple and Beet salad and have been patiently waiting for our garden beets to get big enough for me to try to make a copy cat of the salad. Know it has been so long that I can't remember anything other than it had sweet nuts, apples (tart if you like them), and beets. So I did some online searching and most called for canned beets (so they would be a great in the off season) the dressing varied as much as the salads did so I took bites and pieces of recipes I thought looked like they had something good to please the pallet and came up with this salad. It is wonderful! Don't forget the nuts!! They had the perfect touch to this salad.

For the Nuts: (I always double any type of nut I am roasting and candying so that I have them on hand when I want to make the salad again! If I am lucky they make it that far!)

Nuts:

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp butter

1/3 cup pecan halves

In small skillet, combine sugar and butter; heat until melted. Stir in pecans; cook over low heat 3 to 4 minutes or until caramel color, stirring frequently. Remove and set aside; cool.

Salad Dressing:

1/4 C Balsamic Vinegar

3 tbs olive oil

1.5 tbs honey

Salt and pepper to taste.

Whisk together balsamic vinegar, honey, olive oil, and Salt & Pepper in a bowl. and set aside. (If you want you can pour some of this over your beets before roasting them. I general roast them plain).

Salad:

Salad greens of your choosing

Red or Golden delicious apple cored and chopped

3-4 Beets trimmed Roasted, and peeled & dice into bite size pieces.

ROASTED BEETS (Click here for the recipe) or the short and simple of it is: wash and clean the hanging roots off of your fresh beets. Trim off the greens leaving about a 1" stub--this comes in handy when you slip the skins after roasting. I use 3-4 medium beets for this salad. I wrap all four in a foil pocket together and toss them on the grill for 40-50 minutes until fork tender. (This is great the hot days of summer.)

Place beets and apple in lettuce-lined serving dish. Combine oil and vinegar. Just before serving pour dressing over salad; toss gently, add nuts.

I have even added Chicken to make it a complete meal and it turned out great!