Roasted Beet & Arugula Salad with Balsamic Dressing

For the beets:
Preheat oven to 375°F. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the beets with the olive oil, honey, salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes and then stir. Roast an additional 20 minutes, or until beets are softened and starting to caramelize. Remove from oven and let them cool. The beets can be roasted a day ahead of time and chilled.

For the balsamic dressing:
Briskly whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing. This can be prepared a day ahead of time.

For the assembly of the salad:
On a very large platter, evenly spread the arugula. Make sure that the arugula goes around the outside edges of the platter. Spread a layer of carrots over the arugula but make sure that there are a couple of inches of arugula around the outside of the platter that are not covered by the carrots (see photo). Then pile the beets on top of the carrots, in the very center of the platter. You want to see all the layers distinctively. Sprinkle with blue cheese and candied pecans. Add more salt and pepper, if desired. Drizzle a bit of the dressing over the top of the salad and serve the remainder of the dressing on the side.

* Please note that the beets are intensely colored and will bleed into the carrots and blue cheese after the salad sits for awhile. This isn’t a big deal. But … if you want the salad to be as fresh looking as possible at serving time, wait to layer the salad until right before serving. It’s very easy to have all the individual portions of this salad prepared up to a day prior to serving.

Slightly adapted from my friend Michaela’s recipe box.