Beetroot Salad with Goat Cheese Dressing
Earthy beets pair perfectly with the creamy goat cheese
Summer arrived this weekend! Glorious sunshine, a warm breeze and plenty of al fresco dining. As much as I love to cook, even I just wanted to lounge around outside, eating and chatting with friends. So dinner had to be quick & easy and of course summery.
Unfortunately by now the temperature has plummeted and it is raining (the type of weather that demands recipes for a stew rather than a light summer salad). On the plus side the change in weather means I feel like spending time on my blog again. The sun is sure to return, so just bookmark this recipe for that next sweltering hot day.
Ingredients
(from the blog ‘Lucullian Delights’)
Serves 3-4
4 medium sized red beetroots (I cheated and used pre-cooked and peeled beets)
4 handfuls fresh baby spinach leaves. Or some other tender salad
150 g (5,3 oz) fresh, soft goat cheese
150 ml (0,63 cup) cream
salt and pepper
optional: fresh thyme
handful of walnut halves
Optional: edible flowers
Recipe
- If you are using raw beetroots roast them as described here.
- Place the spinach or lettuce on a large plate.
- Cut the beets into very thin slices and layer on the leaves.
- Use a fork to break up the goat’s cheese. Then stir in the cream and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper (and thyme, if using).
- Drizzle some of the dressing over the beet root and serve the rest on the side.
- Chop the walnuts and sprinkle over the dish.
- Optional: decorate with the flowers.
Serve with
- Roast Mustard Chicken
- Chicken Halloumi Skewers (sorry the skewers were fab but the photos were not appetizing enough to post – if you would like the recipe drop me a line)
afra cooking 
This looks gorgeous I love the idea of the goats cheese dressing! Lovely use of edible flowers too, I keep wanting to use them but not sure which ones are edible, what have you used here? x
Thank you for your compliment! I love using edible flowers – they just make a dish look so spectacular. I tend to get mine at a specialty shop. The pansies in this recipe came as part of a herb and lettuce mix. You can also grow your own; nasturtium are really easy to grow. And although I have never tried roses and violets should work as well… I am curious to hear how your experiments turn out!
I will have to rummage through my dads garden and see if he has any of those 🙂 I remember my mum used to pick flowers and let us eat them, we always thought it was such fun as kids! It definitely makes the dish look extra pretty, especially with beetroot 🙂
The salad looks delicious. I am eating more salad at lunch time these days and this will be added to my lunchtime salads. Thanks for sharing!