Citrus + Beet Salad (AKA Sunset Salad)

This salad is one of my all time favorites during late winter/early Spring and it could not be easier to put together! It’s colorful, bright and SO delicious (I’ve been known to call it the sunset salad because, I mean, look at those colors!).

I posted the tutorial for this salad a few weeks back over on Instagram and after looking at my site analytics, I saw that there were a lot of searches for it. I didn’t originally post the recipe on here since it’s basically just a matter of combining a bunch of delicious ingredients but I realize it’s nice to have as a reference so I want to share!

Served 5-6 as a side dish.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 large beets (I used candy stripe AKA Chioggia beets but any type of beets work!)

• 4 large oranges (I like using a combo of cara cara and blood oranges)

• 1 handful of kumquats (if you can find)

• 1 large fennel bulb

• 1 heaping cup sugar snap peas

• Maldon salt

• Good quality extra virgin olive oil

• Juice from 1 lemon, divided

• 1/4 cup Marcona almonds, crushed (I like to roughly crush to up with a variety of sizes)

• 4 oz feta cheese, crumbled

METHOD

1. Cook the beets:

   1. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F.

   2. Remove the stems from your beets and place them in a loaf pan or baking dish with high sides.

   3. Fill the loaf pan or baking dish with enough water to cover the beets 3/4 of the way up. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.

   4. Transfer to the oven to cook for 30-50 minutes (the range is pretty wide because cook time really depends on the size of your beets). The beets are ready when you can easily insert and remove a paring knife into the center with no resistance.

   5. Once done, remove the beets from the pan and set aside on a cutting board to cool. Meanwhile, prep the rest of the vegetables.

2. Prep the vegetables:

   1. Slice your oranges. Cut off the top and bottom of the oranges, enough for you to be able to see the inside flesh on both ends. Remove the orange peel using the entire length of your knife, beginning with the tip and ending with the base as you work your way down the rind. (I demoed this in my tutorial!). Repeat this around the entire orange until all of the rind has been removed. If there is any pith (white part) left behind, go back with your knife and slice it off. Slice the peeled oranges into 1/2 inch circles through the equator of the oranges.

   2. Thinly slice your kumquats (if using).

   3. Cut off the stocks + fronds from your fennel so that you’re left with just the bulb. Slice the bulb in half lengthwise and remove the core from the bottom end of the bulb in a triangular shape (I also demoed this in my tutorial). Thinly slice the fennel — I prefer using a mandolin for this but if you don’t have one, you can use your knife.

   4. Snap the longer/thinner point of the snap peas and pull across the top of the peas to remove the strings. Once the strings are removed, thinly slice the snap peas on an exaggerated diagonal.

   5. At this point, your beets should be cooled. Rub a paper towel along the skin of the beet and the skin will rub right off. Slice the beets into thin coins through the equator.

3. Assemble the salad:

   1. Layer the beets and orange slices on a large platter. Season with maldon salt, a generous drizzle of olive oil and the juice from half of your lemon.

   2. Continue to layer the salad — scatter the prepped kumquats, fennel and snap peas along with the crushed marcona almonds and feta cheese. Top this second and final later with more maldon salt, another generous drizzle of olive oil and the juice from the other half of the lemon. Enjoy!