Warm Beets & Greens Salad

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Cut been greens off the root leaving about 2″ attached. (If you purchased beets earlier in the week, you should take this step as soon as you return from the grocery store and wrap greens and beets separately for storage). Wash and pat roots and leaves dry.

Grab a sheet of foil large enough to wrap the beets together. Lay it flat and put beets on top in the middle. Drizzle half of the olive oil on the beets, rub with oil to coat and season with salt and pepper. Tightly seal up the foil and place the packet on a baking sheet or pan. Put it into the oven for about 60 minutes to roast. The beets will be done when pierced easily with a fork. Remove from oven.

Prep the greens and almonds while you wait for the beets. Chop the greens into bite size pieces discarding the entire center stem portion. Toast the sliced almonds in a pan on the stovetop over medium heat. This only takes a few minutes, so as soon as they start turning slightly golden, remove them from the heat and place in a bowl.

Once the beets are done, let them cool for 10 minutes while you finish the greens.

In a large skillet add the remaining half of the olive oil and the minced garlic. Heat garlic on low until it is fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the leaves and stir around to coat. They will cook down fairly quickly like spinach would, about 5 minutes.

The beets should be cool enough to handle with a paper towel now. Chop off the top stem and using a dry paper towel, wrap and squeeze the beet and the skin should slide right off onto the towel. Discard the skins.

Dice the beets. Lay them on top of a serving of beet greens. Finish off with goat cheese, toasted almonds and salt and pepper to taste. Add a drizzle of honey if you’d like!

Notes:
1. Recipe inspired by Thekitchn.com. A suggestion is made there to use this salad as the inner workings of a pressed sandwich with extra goat cheese. I think this is a wonderful idea!
2. I often feel like there are never enough beet greens to go around. In this case, grab some spinach and use this as an alternative or in addition to your greens.
3. If you use red and golden beets as I have here, you must roast and store them separately otherwise the red beets will color your entire bunch red.