Roasted Beet and Green Apple Salad
Today Joe shares an awesome roasted beet and green apple salad as a healthy addition to our other recipes.
Something that Justin and our readers have been asking me to do for a while now is to post a healthy/lighter fare recipe. Specifically a recipe that is non-beef or even vegetarian. 
While meat is my forte, I do have a few vegetable dishes in my repertoire. Although I eat a steak or two just about every day, once in a while I have a salad too.
One of my favorite veggies has to be beets. I hated this vegetable as a child, because until I began working in professional kitchens, I had never had a beet that was fresh or for that matter wasn’t boiled to death. Beets are especially delicious when roasted, and once they are, the possibilities are virtually limitless. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, well a beet a day keeps 10 doctors away. They are packed full of vitamins and nutrients, which is why they have earned a place among the super vegetables…those few veggies that contain significantly more nutrition than most others and simply put are super good for you.
The following recipe is for a simple salad that is my spin on a salad course that was prepared for me by Caminito predecessor chef, and my personal mentor, Maryann Salcedo. I have done several variations of this salad in my day, and although this recipe is quite simple, the contrasting flavors and textures are truly complex.
Roasted beet and green apple salad a la Maryann
Ingredients
4 medium beets (racquetball sized) stems, and roots trimmed
2 granny smith apples
4 large mint leaves Chiffonade
Zest and juice of 1 orange and 1 lemon
1 tbsp light olive oil
1 tsp sugar
Salt
Pepper
(Vegetable oil and coarse salt for roasting beets)
Preparation
1. Wash beets thoroughly, (do not peel) then rub with vegetable oil. Place in a single layer in a baking dish and sprinkle with coarse salt. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for approx. 2 hours, or until a small paring knife slides in without resistance, be careful not to overcook. Cool beets to room temp and then chill. This step can be done a day or two in advance.
2. Combine zest, juice, olive oil, sugar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl, whisk vigorously to combine.
3. Prep beets by peeling outer skin with a sharp paring knife. Cut beets into matchstick size, next cut unpeeled apples into the same matchstick size, quickly transfer beets and apples into large bowl with citrus dressing, toss lightly to coat. The citrus juice will prevent the apples from turning brown.
4. Transfer salad to serving plates, you will not need to apply any of the excess dressing left in the mixing bowl, whatever clings to the beets and apples will be sufficient for flavoring.
5. Garnish with chiffonade mint, and possibly a small scoop of plain yogurt if you like. In the summertime I like to add a few fresh blueberries at the last minute for color and added sweetness.
This is a very refreshing salad that is good for just about any time of year. All the ingredients are readily available, and inexpensive. While this combination may seem less than exotic, the proper roasting of the beets, and knife work that goes into producing a uniform matchstick cut, will make this salad stand out. The matchstick cut creates more surface area on the beets and apples for the dressing to cling to, but you can of course cut yours however you like.
Eat one of these salads a day and your doctor will soon be but a memory. 
Enjoy!
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Photo by: Kitty Sonnenschein
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