Beet-Asparagus Salad

Last Updated on May 20, 2015 by Chef Mireille

At the beginning of the year, many people include eating healthier as one of their New Year’s resolutions, myself included.
Have you stuck to your resolution or have you lost your way a little bit?  If you have reverted back to some unhealthy eating habits, here is a delicious and healthy salad to get you back on the right track.

When food is aesthetically appealing, we are likely to eat more of it. One way of encouraging yourself to eat healthier is to add color in your diet, whenever possible.  In this salad, I used some golden beets, blood orange and rainbow carrots.  Rainbow carrots are wonderfully appealing to the eye, if you can find them.  They usually come in groups of purple, yellow and orange.

Even though the purple ones are that color on the outside, they are actually yellow on the inside.

Golden Beet-Asparagus Salad
Ingredients:

• 3 golden beets, peeled and quartered
• 1 bunch asparagus, ends removed and cut in half
• sprigs of thyme
• 2 Meyer lemons, zest and juice
• 1 orange, zest and juice
• segments from 1 blood orange
• 3 carrots, grated
• 2 teaspoons grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons orange blossom water
• 1 tablespoon cilantro, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons slivered almonds, plus extra for garnish
• salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Spray 2 casserole dishes with non-stick spray.
Place the asparagus in one with a few sprigs of thyme and place the beets in another one with a few sprigs of thyme.
In a small bowl, combine the juice of the Meyer lemons and the orange.  In another bowl, combine the zest.
Put half the zests on top of the beets and the other with the asparagus.  Pour half the juice in the dish with the asparagus

 and the other half in with the beets.

Cover tightly with aluminum foil and place in oven.
Cook asparagus for 15 minutes and cook beets for 1 hour.
Remove from oven and let cool.  Reserve the zest and juice from the beets.  Chop into small pieces and combine in a large bowl with the grated carrots and the zest and juice that the beets was cooked in.
Add orange segments.  Add orange blossom water, ginger, cilantro, almonds and salt and pepper.  Stir to combine.
This salad can be eaten cold or at room temperature.  Garnish with more almonds.

For a healthy dinner, serve with some grilled chicken or fish.

I don’t care how little you like veggies, this salad is so colorful and eye appealing, I think even your pickiest eater would be tempted to at least take 1 bite!

Chef Mireille