My parents, sister and her husband came to visit us on Christmas Day. After reading here on my blog about my Roasted Butternut Squash Sauce, they asked me to make that for our dinner. I was more than happy to as that sauce rocked. I doubled all the amounts to make more and instead of ravioli, I added it to some cannelloni and baked it in the oven. If you aren’t familiar, cannelloni, they are long pasta tubes that have been rolled up with cheese, kind of like manicotti. I made this salad to go with our meal.
Dark Greens Salad with Roasted Beets and Oranges
5 ounce salad mix that contained baby spinach, baby arugula and radicchio
1 small bunch of beets with greens
2 oranges
3 Tablespoons raw sunflower seeds
1-2 ounces of crumbled feta cheese (optional)
Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper to make the dressing
Clean the salad greens and place in a large bowl.
Remove beets from greens. Remove greens from stems; wash, chop and add to the bowl with the rest of the greens. For the beets, peel them and slice in half. Slice each half into 1/4 inch half moons. Place on a dark roasting pan, toss with olive oil, and roast for 20 minutes at 425. Remove from oven and allow the beets to cool completely.
Cut each orange in half along the equator and use a citrus knife to cut out the sections. Reserve the sections for the salad and squeeze the remainder of the juice in the oranges into a separate bowl.
Toast the sunflower seeds in a small, dry skillet on medium until they just start to brown. Remove from heat and allow them to cool completely.
To make the dressing, take 3 Tablespoons of the reserved orange juice and whisk in 1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Whisk in 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a pinch of salt and pepper. Â Very slowly whisk in 3 Tablespoons of olive oil until the dressing is combined. Taste and adjust any of the seasonings as you feel are necessary.
Pour the dressing over the salad greens and toss to combine so all the greens are covered. Sprinkle the roasted beets, orange sections, toasted sunflower seeds, and feta cheese if you are using it, over the salad greens. This salad served 6 with no leftovers.
