Butternut Beet Salad
This is a salad riff on some already cooked beets and butternut squash. Toss with the beets, butternut and onion, season with salt and pepper and chill for the remainder of the hour to let the flavors meld. Dress the greens with the cold salad.
This is a salad riff on some already cooked beets and butternut squash. Toss with the beets, butternut and onion, season with salt and pepper and chill for the remainder of the hour to let the flavors meld. Dress the greens with the cold salad.
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups beets precooked, cooled, skinned and cubed
- 2 cups butternut squash cubed, cooked and cooled
- 1/4 cup red onion sliced in thin slivers
- 2 tablespoon cider vinegar balsamic vinegar would also do nicely
- 2 tablespoon grape seed oil or use a mild vegetable oil of your preference
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1-2 heads romaine if you stretch this out, you may need to double the dressing and reserve half to coat the leaves. feel free to use any kind of leafy greens.
- 1-2 tablespoons blue cheese crumbled (optional)
- 2 tablespoons walnuts chopped (optional)
- Carbohydrate 28.8545556259458 g
- Cholesterol 6.375 mg
- Fat 12.933189994241 g
- Fiber 10.3135965414859 g
- Protein 8.17561531250341 g
- Saturated Fat 2.63910899944714 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (486g)
- Sodium 351.319616666765 mg
- Sugar 18.5409590844599 g
- Trans Fat 0.879807999746605 g
- Calories 242 calories
Step-by-step
- Whisk together the vinegar, oil, and honey.
- Toss with the beets, butternut and onion, season with salt and pepper and chill for the remainder of the hour to let the flavors meld.
- Dress the greens with the cold salad
- Garnish with the chopped nuts and crumbled blue cheese.
Cider vinegar provides the structural acid necessary to balance the high natural sugars present in both roasted squash and root vegetables. Acidity breaks down tough cellular walls slightly during marination while sharpening the palate against earthy root flavors. Whisking the vinegar thoroughly with grapeseed oil creates a temporary emulsion that coats dense vegetable cubes evenly without pooling at the bottom of the mixing bowl.
Allowing the cubed squash and beets to sit in the dressing for a full hour initiates osmotic diffusion, drawing surface moisture out while driving acid and sweetness inward. Cubes should reach a fully chilled internal temperature near 40 degrees Fahrenheit before serving, ensuring crisp textural contrast against fresh romaine leaves. Grapeseed oil remains liquid at refrigerator temperatures unlike heavier fats such as butter or coconut oil, which prevents the dressing from solidifying into an unpalatable film during chilling.
Precooked ingredients trade away some volatile aromatic compounds for convenience, resulting in a milder flavor profile than freshly roasted produce. Compensating for this loss requires precise seasoning with kosher salt immediately before the resting period to pull internal moisture toward the surface where taste buds register it first. Thinly slicing the red onion to a thickness under two millimeters guarantees rapid mellowing of harsh sulfur compounds during the cold rest.
Blue cheese and walnuts supply essential protein and fat to round out the dish, introducing divergent textures against soft squash and firm beets. Crumbling aged blue cheese over cold components distributes concentrated pockets of umami and salt without dissolving into the salad greens prematurely. Chopping walnuts just before plating maximizes the release of aromatic essential oils trapped inside the nut kernels.
