January and salad isn’t usually a quick association I make in my mind, but January and heavy food detox is. I was assigned to make a ‘mystery salad’ to bring for a dinner last weekend and I was a little intimidated. Salad offerings don’t come very easily to me as I tend to have a hard time with dressings and sometimes get bored with my go-to favorites but still I wanted to give it my best shot. It didn’t seem right to throw in a bunch of tomatoes, corn, or other out-of-season choices so here I went with some hearty winter vegetables and strong leafy greens to have a salad that was rich and could stand up at the dinner table with other winter dishes.
Incidentally, roasted fennel is quite possibly my new favorite thing in the world.
Now I’ve never been one who has suffered from the ‘eyes bigger than your stomach’ syndrome- unfortunately my stomach is usually up to the task set before it -but I do most definitely suffer from the ‘eyes bigger than your serving dishes’ syndrome. This is especially noticeable when it comes to roasting vegetables. I want to fill the pan. And then I have no room in the salad bowl for all the goodies I’ve made. The good news is that roasted beets and fennel are kickin’ with some cheese and orzo that I noshed on last night and will be posting soon, so go ahead and make extra. It will come in handy.
Winter Salad
serves 8
1lb. mixed dark leafy greens
2 fennel bulbs (reserve a couple of teaspoons of the fronds)
5-6 medium red beets (reserve the leafy green parts)
1 small red endive, chopped into 1/2″ strips
3/4c. pine nuts
dressing:
1/2c. extra virgin olive oil
1/4c. balsamic vinegar
1/2t. chopped fennel seeds
1t. chopped fresh thyme
juice from half of a lemon
1t. honey
for the roasted fennel:
1t. honey
1t. olive oil
1/2t. fresh lemon juice
salt
pepper
Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Wrap the rinsed beets in foil fairly tightly and chop the fennel bulb into 1/2″ thin strips kind of like french fries. Reserve a couple of teaspoons of the chopped fennel fronds as well as the beet greens. Drizzle the honey and lemon oil over the fennel and toss to coat. Roast the fennel and the beets in a pan for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until the fennel is nice and golden brown. Make sure that the beets are soft when you poke them with a fork. Allow them to cool for several minutes before remove the foil and using a peeler to remove the outer skin. Slice the beets into bit-sized pieces. Toast the pine nuts over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, shaking the saucepan every couple of minutes and ensuring that the nuts don’t burn.
In a large bowl add the leafy greens, and chop the endive in 1/2″ slices into the bowl. Rinse and chop the beet greens, removing the center ribs first before chopping and add to the top of the bowl. Layer the beets and the fennel on top and sprinkle the toasted pine nuts and fennel fronds. Whisk together all of the ingredients for the dressing and drizzle as much as to your liking over the salad. Toss and serve.
