Why It Works
- Beets and citrus are a classic combination for a reason.
- Pistachios and honey emulsify the dressing easily, while using grapefruit and orange juice boosts flavor.
- Roasting the beets in a foil pouch concentrates flavor.
I'm all for innovation and wild and crazy ideas, but sometimes it's okay to find a winning formula and stick with it, especially when that time is dinnertime. There's a reason beets and citrus are a staple of winter salads: They go insanely well together. But within those constraints, there's pretty much no end to the combinations of salads you can make.
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How to Customize a Beet Citrus Salad
It's safe to say that I rarely make the exact same beet and citrus salad twice. I'll swap out the beet variety, or the citrus, or the nuts. I'll add bitter greens or boiled eggs. I may add a creamy cheese, or maybe I'll spice and candy those nuts. This particular salad, made with roasted beets, grapefruit, oranges, fresh ricotta, and a pistachio vinaigrette, is not all that different from mybeet, citrus, and pine nut salad. You can criticize me for that. I'm okay with it.
I start by cooking a couple of different varieties of beets. There's more than one way to cook a beet, but I tend to prefer dry roasting methods over boiling—they come out with a more concentrated sweet and earthy flavor that way. Of all the methods I've tried, foil pouches work best. When you toss beets, a little oil, and a few herb sprigs in tightly sealed foil pouches, the beets end up cooking in their own vaporized juices, in a sort of steam–roast hybrid. Once they're roasted—which takes about an hour and a half of unsupervised time in a 375°F (190°C) oven—the skins slip off easily under cool running water. An hour and a half of roasting is a long time for a single salad, but luckily, that's a step you can do in advance. Just cool the beets and throw them in the fridge, and they'll be ready to go whenever you are.
Using Nuts in a Vinaigrette
For the vinaigrette, I gently pound pistachios with a granitemortar and pestleuntil they're broken up, but not totally pulverized. You can also use a knife if you don't have a mortar and pestle. If you decide to go the knife route, take a five-minute break after chopping and consider what previous choices have led to your mortar-and-pestle-free existence, and what steps you might take in the future to ameliorate the situation.
The nice thing about including nuts in a vinaigrette is that the small particles of nut add extra agitation as you're whisking it together, which makes forming a stable emulsion really easy. I set aside some of the pounded pistachios for garnish, then whisk together the rest with minced shallots, lemon juice, honey, herbs, and extra-virgin olive oil. (Read up more onthe science of vinaigrettes and emulsions here.)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__images__2017__02__20170131-beet-pistachio-ricotta-citrus-salad-03-d78314effc7942d5a5017b20ae3b0e47.jpg "Roasted-Beet and Citrus Salad With Ricotta and Pistachio Vinaigrette Recipe (2)")
Preparing Citrus for a Salad
With the citrus, I'm honestly not all that picky. I do like the bittersweet flavor of grapefruit, but oranges or pomelos or even bits of Meyer lemon would do just fine. The key is to cut them properly so as to minimize the amount of stringy pith that gets into the salad. That means eithercutting the fruit intosuprèmes, or peeling and slicing it crosswise in order to keep those individual bits of pith short.
To boost the citrus flavor in the vinaigrette, I add to it the juice from whatever fruit I'm using as well.
When I'm ready to serve the salad, I cut all the beets into bite-size pieces—spraying your cutting board with a thin coating of nonstick spray will make cleaning up red beet juice much easier, by the way!—then toss them with the citrus and vinaigrette. The only real key here is to make sure to toss the red beets separately from everything else; otherwise, they end up turning the whole salad pink. Not the end of the world, but not as pretty on the plate.
After that, I spread a big spoonful of fresh ricotta cheese over the plate, pile on the beets and citrus, add a few more dollops of ricotta, drizzle any remaining dressing around, and then sprinkle it all with the remaining pistachios.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__images__2017__02__20170131-beet-pistachio-ricotta-citrus-salad-10-9ab06cbae5364a61b7a1a673b928bbdd.jpg "Roasted-Beet and Citrus Salad With Ricotta and Pistachio Vinaigrette Recipe (3)")
A great beet salad is sort of like watchingStar Wars, or waking up next to my wife, Adri, every morning: familiar, comforting, and exciting all at once.
February 2017
Recipe Details
Roasted-Beet and Citrus Salad With Ricotta and Pistachio Vinaigrette Recipe
Prep15 mins
Cook105 mins
Active30 mins
Total2 hrs
Serves4to 6 servings
Ingredients
2 pounds (about 1kg) beets, unpeeled, greens removed, scrubbed clean
1/4 cup (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 sprigs thyme or rosemary (optional)
Koshersalt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup toasted shelled pistachios (about 2 ounces; 55g)
1 grapefruit,cut into suprèmes or wedges, 1 tablespoon (15ml) juice reserved separately
1 orange, cut into suprèmes or wedges, 1 tablespoon (15ml) juice reserved separately
2 teaspoons (10ml) juice from 1 lemon
1 small shallot, finely minced (about 1 ounce; 30g)
2 tablespoons (about 15g) minced fresh parsley, tarragon, or chervil
1 tablespoon (15ml) honey
1 cup (200g) fresh ricotta
Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Fold a 12- by 24-inch sheet of aluminum foil in half to form a square. Crimp 2 edges to form a pouch. Toss beets, 1 tablespoon (15ml) olive oil, rosemary or thyme sprigs (if using), and salt and pepper to taste in a medium bowl until beets are coated. Add to pouch and crimp remaining edge to seal. (If using multiple colors of beets, roast in separate pouches.) Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and place in oven. Roast until beets are completely tender and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into a beet through foil meets little to no resistance, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and allow to cool. When beets are cool enough to handle, peel by gently rubbing skin under cold running water. Cut beets into 1 1/2–inch chunks. Beets can be cooked and stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Place pistachios in a mortar and pound with pestle until lightly crushed but not totally pulverized. (You can also chop them with a knife.) Transfer half of nuts to a large bowl and reserve the rest for garnish.
Add grapefruit juice, orange juice, lemon juice, shallot, minced herbs, and honey to bowl with pistachios and whisk to combine. Drizzle in remaining 3 tablespoons (45ml) olive oil while whisking constantly. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
To Serve: Toss beets and citrus with vinaigrette in a large bowl (if using red beets, toss them separately from everything else) and season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread half of ricotta over a serving platter, place dressed beets and citrus on top, dollop with remaining ricotta, sprinkle with reserved pistachios, and serve.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__images__2017__02__20170131-beet-pistachio-ricotta-citrus-salad-02-347cbeecdca84c19bf38e0f035a928be.jpg "Roasted-Beet and Citrus Salad With Ricotta and Pistachio Vinaigrette Recipe (4)")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__images__2017__02__20170131-beet-pistachio-ricotta-citrus-salad-05-cf494cd289164b56a6815531c0c97391.jpg "Roasted-Beet and Citrus Salad With Ricotta and Pistachio Vinaigrette Recipe (5)")
Special Equipment
Mortar and pestle, rimmed baking sheet
Read More
- How to Roast Beets
