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I had this salad on my first trip to Italy, in a little Trattoria in Lucca. It was perfectly balanced and so “GENIUS”, that I had to find a napkin to jot down the exact ingredients.

If you cannot make it to Italy, you can now recreate this Italian masterpiece in your own kitchen. This salad is always a hit when I entertain, so you might want to double the recipe.

The secret is in roasting the beets in individual foil packets. Unlike boiling, the sugars remain inside the beets, so they caramelize and give the beets and sweeter, more concentrated flavor.

The acidity of the grapefruit (you can use oranges or tangerines too) cuts the sweetness of the beets. The creaminess of the goat cheese marries all the flavors together. If you are looking for a dairy free salad, you can leave it out.

I like my salads to have some texture and crunch, so I added walnuts, but you can also add candied or regular pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, or cashews.

The true success of a salad, is in the dressing, and this is no exception. The grapefruit zest adds brightness and zing, and it is simply brilliant on any salad.

I love to garnish my salads with poppy seeds. They just look so pretty. If you don’t have any, you can use chia, caraway, or black sesame seeds.

The dressing and beets can be made ahead of time and refrigerated. I prefer serving my salads at room temperature, so take the ingredients out of the fridge an hour or 2 before assembling the salad.

I hope this salad transports you to Italy….

Mangiare e divertirsi (translation.. eat and enjoy) xxx Chef MM

WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO

Roasted Beet and Grapefruit Salad- Chef Melissa Mayo

Roasted Beet & Grapefruit Salad* 4 red beets* 3 yellow beets* 2 packs Butter lettuce* 1/4 red onion – sliced into thin semi circles* 3 Persian cucumbers – cu…

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Roasted Beet & Grapefruit Salad

  • Author: Melissa Mayo

Ingredients

Scale

FOR THE SALAD

  • 4 red beets
  • 3 yellow beets
  • 2 packs Butter lettuce
  • 1/4 red onion – sliced into thin semi-circles
  • 3 Persian cucumbers – cut on the diagonal
  • 2 large pink grapefruit -cut into segments without the pits or membranes
  • Log of goat cheese – broken into big chunks
  • 1/2 cup walnut pieces
  • Poppy seeds to garnish

FOR THE DRESSING

  • 2 TBS of grapefruit zest
  • 1/2 cup good olive oil
  • 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp mustard powder
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • Lots and coarse salt & black pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400F/ 200 C

Whisk all the ingredients together and set aside.

Cut the leaves off the beets. Leave about ¼ inch of stem. Wrap each beet individually in foil. Place the beets on a baking sheet and roast the beets until fork tender (about 1 hour). Remove the beets from the oven and allow them to cool.

Use gloves so you don’t stain your fingers. Slip the skin off the beets and slice each beet into 1/2-inch chunks.

Using a small knife cut the skin off the grapefruits so there is no white pith. Over a large bowl, cut out the segments of the citrus flesh and set them aside.

Slice the cucumbers and onions.

TO ASSEMBLE — Place the butter lettuce on a flat platter. Top with the cucumbers and beets. Add the grapefruit segments and red onion slices. Break the goat cheese into pieces and scatter the walnuts on top. Garnish with poppy seeds.

Serve the salad at room temperature. Drizzle with dressing just before serving.

SERVES 6

Notes

You can also use canned or pre-cooked packaged beets if you are in a rush. Beets and dressing can be made ahead of time and kept refrigerated.

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag me @themelissamayo— I can't wait to see what you've made!

 

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I'm Melissa, your host & tour guide.

A Food Network chef, author, mamma, eternal optimist, wannabe-mermaid, spice mixologist, and “dough therapist” (yep, it’s a thing)—

I'm also the founder of Susina Cucina, the gorgeous, Italian cooking school I manifested into my reality. I’m obsessed with Aperol spritzes, travel, and mouthwatering food… especially pizza and pasta.

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