Roasted Beet Salad with Citrus and Crème Fraîche

Roasted beet salad with citrus and creme fraiche.

No ratings yet

Roasted Beet Salad with Citrus and Crème Fraîche

This roasted beet salad with citrus and crème fraîche brings restaurant-quality elegance to your home table. Perfect for special occasions when you want to impress.

Prep Time30

Cook Time1

Total Time1 30

Course: Salad

Servings:

Calories: 142kcal

Author: Ali Mairet

Ingredients

Salad Ingredients

24 ounces beets 4-8 beets depending on their size
4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
2 ounces arugula salad mix
6 ounces supremed citrus segments 1 grapefruit, 2 oranges or both
½ ounce fresh mint leaves

Vinaigrette Ingredients

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced shallots
⅛ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper

Mint Creme Fraiche

2 teaspoons minced shallot
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
½ ounce fresh mint leaves see notes
⅛ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt to make the mint paste
1 clove garlic
⅛ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt to make the garlic paste
¼ teaspoon black pepper
8 ounces crème fraîche

Instructions

Salad

Preheat the oven to 400℉
Place each beet on a piece of aluminum foil, drizzle generously with olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Wrap the beets in the foil and roast on a baking sheet for 45 to 90 minutes, or until fork-tender. The cooking time will depend on the size of the beets.
Remove the beets from the oven, open the foil, and drain their juices into a bowl. When the beets are cool to the touch, peel off the skins using paper towels in the kitchen sink. Store different varieties separately.
Cut the beets into wedges and add them to their reserved beet juice along with 1 teaspoon of red wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.
If you are using chilled citrus cups, drain the water or juice from them and keep them refrigerated until assembly. If you plan to segment a whole grapefruit or orange, see recipe notes below.

Vinaigrette

In a small lidded container like a mason jar, add the red wine vinegar, olive oil, shallot, salt, and pepper.
Shake to combine and set aside.

Mint Crème Fraîche

Combine the minced shallots and the red wine vinegar in a small bowl. Let them mellow in the vinegar for 15 minutes.
Using a knife, finely chop the mint leaves with salt. Make a mint paste by rocking your knife back and forth.
Make a garlic paste by finely chopping the garlic clove with salt. Smash the garlic and salt with the side of your knife, then rock your knife back and forth.
Strain the red wine vinegar from the shallots.
In a bowl, add the crème fraîche, strained shallots, garlic paste, mint paste and black pepper. Stir to combine and taste to see if some additional salt is needed.

Assembly

If the beets have been stored in the refrigerator, remove them an hour before assembling so they can return to room temperature.
Dress the arugula salad mix with a portion of the vinaigrette in a bowl. Arugula is tender and does not need a lot of vinaigrette. It's better to underdress the leaves and add more as needed rather than add the entire jar at once.
On chilled salad plates, spoon the mint crème fraîche in a corner. With the back of a spoon, swoop it across the plate.
Arrange a small handful of greens over the crème fraîche. Make sure you can still see the crème fraîche underneath.
Arrange the beets and citrus segments across the greens. Finish the salad by adding small, whole mint leaves strategically around the beets so that it's appealing to your eye. Serve immediately.

Notes

Notes about mint:

If you have mint from a garden, you can use more in this recipe.

My grocery stores sell 1-ounce plastic clamshells of mint. You will remove all of the mint leaves and divide them in half. Half of the leaves will be the garnish, while the other half will be finely chopped for the mint paste.

½ ounce of finely chopped mint leaves = 4 tablespoons.

How to segment the grapefruit and oranges:

Cut the stem and blossom ends of the citrus. Place the cut side down on a cutting board and follow the contour from top to bottom of the fruit with your knife to remove the peel and white pith. Over a bowl, hold the citrus in your hand one at a time and carefully slice between the membranes and the fruit will release the segments and juices in the bowl.

If you need to save some time, you can buy chilled cups of grapefruit and oranges in your grocery store's produce section.

Nutrition