I had this salad over five years ago at a book group hosted by Shayna and Kristen Proctor. I've been thinking about it ever since. I finally decided to ask Shayna for the recipe and voila, here it is. It's a little labor-intensive but well worth the effort. Thanks, Shayna and Kristen!
8
medium beets (about 4 pounds)
1/2
to 1 cup of real maple syrup (I use a half of cup it is so expensive)
1
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (Reduce to 1/4 tsp for kids or non-spice lovers)
2
TBS red wine vinegar
2
TBS olive oil
1
clove garlic, minced
Salt
to taste
1/2
cup goat cheese
Mild
greens like butter lettuce, spinach, mache
Green
apples
Pine
nuts (or another nut)
Celery
(optional, but awesome)
Avocado
***Make
the beets ahead of time so that they can cool so they don't end up melting the
goat cheese.
Scrub
the beets, cut off tops and bottoms, but don't peel them. Boil beets on medium
heat for 25 minutes (water level should be one inch above the beets). Let the
beets cool, then peel and cut into half-inch cubes. DON'T POUR OUT THE COOKING
WATER.
Add
maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and cubed beets to the beet water. Bring to a boil
for another 30 minutes until they are sweet and hot. Remove the beets and boil
the liquid for another 10-20 minutes until the liquid is thick. You will use
this liquid for the dressing, but can save the extra liquid to cook beets in
later. (Maple syrup is expensive, so you might want to reuse it.)
DRESSING:
Two
tablespoons beet syrup (the water, beet, syrup stuff), vinegar, olive oil,
garlic, and salt to taste. You may want to double the amount of dressing,
because it's nice to have a little more.
Combine
mild greens, and then add beets, apples, nuts, and chosen optional ingredients.
Toss with dressing just before serving so it doesn’t turn pink.
From
Merrilee Gottfredson through Shayna Proctor and Kristen Proctor Westenskow.
