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This beetroot and goat’s cheese salad is great to be enjoyed in both the summer and the winter. Warm roasted beetroot tossed with walnuts and creamy goats cheese and drizzled in a balsamic-mustard dressing. Divine!

Ingredients

You need just a few simple ingredients for this salad. For a full list with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.

For the salad

• Beetroot – peeled and sliced into eighths
• Rocket/arugula
• Shelled walnuts, roughly chopped
• Red apple – any kind of apple will work so pick your favourite! You can simply slice the apple into thin pieces, or to be extra fancy, use a mandolin to slice very thinly and then fan out on top of the salad.
• Goat’s cheese log – make sure to buy a log rather than the spreadable stuff. If you buy it with the rind on then remove that first

For the dressing

• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar – use a good quality vinegar as this will really affect the taste
• Dijon mustard
• Honey

How to make it

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.
2. Lay the peeled and sliced beetroot on a baking tray and drizzle with oil and season well. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
3. Whisk all the salad ingredients together
4. When the beetroot is cooked, prepare the remaining ingredients and everything on top of the rocket on a plate.
5. Drizzle over the salad dressing and serve.

Variations

There are a few variations and substitutions you can make to mix things up a little with this salad:

• For a salty substitution, you can swap the goat’s cheese for crumbled feta.
• Spinach or mixed lettuce leaves work really well in place of the rocket/arugula.
• For an extra sweet salad, swap the apples for sliced pears.
• For added fruity goodness you can also include some berries – blueberries work really well.
• If you want to add some meat then some crispy bacon is a fantastic addition.

Can you make it in advance?

This salad is very much best prepared at the time of serving to keep everything fresh. However, you can prepare elements of it in advance to make it quicker to put together at the time.

The beetroot can be cooked ahead of time. You can either then add it cold or warm it up in the oven quickly. The walnuts can also be chopped in advance and the dressing whisked together and kept, sealed, in the fridge.

Don’t prepare the apple until you are ready to serve as it will go brown. Also, keep the beetroot separate from the other elements before preparing or it could dye things purple!

What can I serve it with?

This salad is perfect served on its own as a light dinner or tasty lunch. However if you want to make it a little more substantial you can add some crispy bread as a side dish.

This also works really well as a side dish. As its fairly flavoursome in itself it goes well with dishes that need some added interest. A grilled chicken breast or some baked fish are great ideas.

Can I use ready-cooked beetroot?

You can absolutely use pre-cooked beetroot for this recipe and, if you’re short on time, it can be a lifesaver. However, the texture won’t be quite the same as roasting them as they won’t have that lightly crisp skin on them, but it’s a fair trade off.

If you buy ready-cooked beetroot then find a variety that hasn’t been soaked in vinegar, as this will add a lot of sharp acidity to the salad. And, whatever you do, don’t use the pickled stuff in jars.

Quick tip – whether you use pre-cooked or prepare your own beetroot, use gloves when slicing or peeling it to stop it from staining your hands (which takes hours to get off).

Looking for more great salad recipes? Try:

• Wild rice salad
• Halloumi salad
• Avocado and prawn salad
• Chicken and bacon salad
• Healthy Waldorf salad
• Curried chicken salad
• Simple 3 bean salad

Products that work well for this recipe:

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