Beet and Blue Cheese Salad

I have gotten a bit behind on the blogging of late. If it gives you any clue this is something I made January 18th. This is a really simple salad and quite pretty. I used a simple olive oil and lemon dressing, but any vinaigrettes would work.

This made four salads:

1 large beet, boil until tender and pop the skin, let cool then grate
¾ c. blue cheese
½ c. toasted walnuts
4 cups lettuce or mixed greens
thinly sliced onion

On four plates put on cup of lettuce or greens. Top with ¼ (for each plate) blue cheese and walnuts. Add onion to taste. Put ¼ of the shredded beets and top with dressing. Do not toss.

Fig Salad

I don’t know where you are but here it is fresh fig season. The figs that are grown locally, are not super flavorful, which is the reason for “drying” them in the oven to concentrate the flavor. The dressing is the most complicated part of this simple salad. It is really good, and very pretty. If you don’t like goats cheese, use feta.

Dressing
10 figs sliced
½ c. balsamic vinegar
¼ c, oil
2 tbs raisins
1 tsp brown sugar

Heat oven to 250. (note below this is a good time to toast walnuts) Line a baking sheet with sliced figs and cook for 1 hour. You still want them moist, you are just trying to concentrate the flavor. Put into blender of food processor. Add all other ingredients and mix until fairly smooth. This will be a thick dressing.

Salad
Bag of spinach
¼ of onion thinly sliced
¼ c. walnuts
½ c. goat cheese
3 fresh figs

Toast walnuts in oven for about 10 minutes. Set aside. Combine spinach, onion, goat cheese in a bowl. Top with walnuts and garnish with slices of the fresh fig. I would serve into bowls and put a dollop of dressing in the middle of each salad.

strawberry salad

This is a little freeform here. Make a very simple salad. A little onion, a little cucumber, lettuce and maybe carrot. For a salad for 4 slice about a pint of strawberry’s. Add 1/2 C crumbled blue cheese. Toss with a slightly sweet dressing. I used Maple Grove Farms Ginger Pear but a poppy seed would be good as well.