Beet Salad with Apples and Blue Cheese

This salad is gorgeous and delish!  I first had it at the home of my friend Tina and I liked it so much that I snuck into the kitchen and the caterer was kind enough to walk me through the recipe.  I like to cut my apples and beets about the same size and although I toast the walnuts whole, I give them a rough chop before topping the salad with them.

INGREDIENTS

  • Granny Smith apples – I use any crisp seasonal apple
  • Beets cubed to similar size of cubed apples
  • Toasted walnuts roughly chopped
  • Arugula
  • Blue Cheese

Icing

SAUCE

toppings

dressing

  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 1 tbsp Dijon
  • 2 tsp sugar or honey
  • ¼ c canola
  • Salt and pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Cube the apples with skins on - toss in some of the dressing to keep from going brown

If you are wearing a white t-shirt, go and change! Roast or boil the beets until cooked - you can easily put a paring knife into them and they slide off. Run cooked beets under cold water and the skins will slide off in your hands -trim the ends

Dressing: Combine the apple cider vinegar, water, Dijon, sugar or honey, canola and salt and pepper

Prep everything, put the dressing on the apples ahead of time (so they don’t go brown) then add everything else just before serving.  I like to toss some cheese and a few walnuts into the salad but for presentation I like lots of walnuts and cheese on top.

TIPS & HINTS

The already prepared Costco beets work and are quite good but not quite the same as mid-summer garden fresh!

You can cook and cube the beets a day or two in advance and keep them in the fridge.

I toast the walnuts in the oven well ahead of when I need them and keep what I don’t use into the freezer.