Winter Citrus Salad With Beets & Pickled Onion

The holidays are just around the corner and I felt that I needed to sprinkle in a salad in between sips of wine and bites of Christmas cookies. Life is all about balance after all! HA!

This healthy, wintery salad will actually satisfy you, filled with punchy flavors and textures. Juicy oranges, sweet beets, pickled onion, and an orange vinaigrette make for a beautiful salad that tastes just as good as it looks. Sprinkling with pomegranate seeds and feta add pops of tartness and creamy saltiness, and make this salad look like it’s adorned with mini red ornaments and a dash of snow! What a stunner!

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Makes: 2 large salads or 4 appetizer portions

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

The Ingredients

~4 ounces lettuce of choice (I like butter head or another mild lettuce!)

1 head of endive (about 10 or so leaves)

1 large naval orange (plus ¼ teaspoon of orange zest from the peel)

8 ounces (1/2 pound) red beets*

½ of a small red onion, cut into paper thin slices (use a mandolin if you have one!)

2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds

2 tablespoons feta

¼ cup red wine vinegar**

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

½ cup water

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: add marcona almonds for a crunchy, protein pop!

*Buying pre-roasted beets helps cut out a lot of time! If you can’t find pre-cooked beets, buy ½ pound of small raw beets, wash and dry them, wrap them in foil, and roast at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes until fork tender. Let cool before peeling & slicing.

**Red wine vinegar is used to pickle the onions which gives them a beautiful pink color and adds richness. Sub white wine vinegar if you prefer to use just one type of vinegar throughout the salad!

 

 

 

The Steps

For pickled onions: add water, red wine vinegar, and slivered onion to a bowl. Let pickle for 10 minutes. Drain well after 10 minutes and set aside.

To prepare oranges: after you’ve zested the orange, cut the top and bottom of the orange off. Then cut the rest of the peel and white membrane off the outside of the orange. Then cut the orange in half and place them, flat side on the cutting boarding, to cut them into half-moon slices. Set aside.

To prepare beets: See note above about roasting beets! Peel and cut cooked beets into large chunks. Set aside.

Add lettuce, endive, orange slices, beets and pickled onion to a large salad bowl.

For the vinaigrette: whisk together orange zest, 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour over salad and toss gently.

Top salad with a generous sprinkle of feta and pomegranate seeds (and optional marcona almonds). Has healthy ever tasted this yummy?!

 

 

 

The Steps with Video

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