Balsamic Beet Salad Made with Golden or Red Beets Tossed in Balsamic Herb & Garlic Dressing
Until a few weeks ago, roasting was my preferred way to cook beets. (Actually, the only way I cooked beets.) I’d not heard of nor considered steaming beets. Though, steam them I did. To my surprise, the steamed beet 
wedges were tender, and retained both their flavor and color. While hot, I tossed the beet wedges in a Balsamic, Herb and Garlic dressing. By adding some favorite beet accompaniments, toasted walnuts, fresh mint and feta cheese, a new healthy, delicious and gorgeous Balsamic Beet Salad was born. Plus, I can now recommend two excellent cooking methods for beets. Roasted and steamed.
Steaming Beets is a Win-Win
Steaming beets retains their gorgeous color and flavor. Plus, they cook in about a third to a half of the time of roasted beets. Depending on their size, in 30-45 minutes, steamed beets are tender and ready to eat. Great as an easy side dish with just a sprinkling of salt. And, especially delicious as a side or main dish Balsamic Beet Salad.
Golden Beets vs Red Beets
In Montana, beet season lasts from June through October. During the early season months, it’s easy to find just-harvested small to medium-size beets with their greens still attached.
Throughout June and July, our local farmers’ markets have beautiful displays of red, golden and even heirloom pink striped Chioggia (pronounced kee-OH-gee-uh) beets. Next week, as an experiment if I can still find them, I’ll make Balsamic Beet Salad with candy-striped Chioggia beets.
Milder and sweet golden beets and Chioggia beets have a less earthy flavor than red beets. Nutritionally, though, they are all quite similar to one another other. Culinarily 😊 red beets turn everything they contact a beautiful shade of red-violet. Whereas, golden beets keep their color to themselves. I’ve also read 
that Chioggia beets don’t bleed. For the benefit of my Balsamic Beet Salad, I hope that’s true.
UPDATE:
The combination of Chioggia beets and golden beets is beautiful and delicious. And, Chioggia beets don’t seem to bleed. However, golden beets bleed. Thus, it’s difficult to tell the two apart.
Pomegranate Molasses
Just as it has upleveled my Tabouli Salad with Quinoa, Avocado and Feta, tart, sweet, and tangy pomegranate molasses adds a burst of bright flavor to Balsamic Beet Salad. Pomegranate molasses provides the perfect counterpoint to the beet’s earthiness, making all the flavors pop.
Al Wadi is the brand I prefer as it is made from 100% pomegranate juice, with no added sugar.
To Peel or Not To Peel . . .
That is the question. Some people say 
absolutely peel beets and can’t imagine ever not peeling them. Here are my more flexible guidelines.
-
- With young and tender beets, a good scrub and some trimming around the ends with a peeler or a knife and they’re good to go.
- Peel especially dirty beets that have a lot of grit in their attached roots.
- Older, larger beets with tough skins benefit from peeling.
- If you do decide to peel beets, it is much easier to do so after cooking than before.
Balsamic Beet Salad with Golden or Red Beets Tossed in Balsamic Herb & Garlic Dressing
Steaming beets retains their gorgeous color and flavor. Plus, they cook in about a third of the time of roasted beets. This gorgeous Balsamic Beet Salad is a satisfying contrast of flavors and textures: fresh mint adds brightness, walnuts add crunch and feta cheese adds creaminess. Plus, adding the hot and tender beets to the dressing lets the beets absorb more of the dressing’s sweet, tart and tangy flavor. Easily doubled, tripled or more depending upon your love of beets.
Makes 4+ servings Printer-Friendly Recipe
Total time: About 1 hour
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ pounds golden or red beets, preferably small
to medium-sized
Balsamic Herb and Garlic Dressing
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses
- 1 medium-large clove garlic crushed in a garlic press
- ¼ teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
- ¾ teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt or Himalayan salt
- 8 twists freshly ground pepper
Salad
- ½ cup walnut halves and pieces
- 2 ounces cubed feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons thinly-sliced fresh mint leaves
- 3 cups arugula or a mix of salad greens
Directions
Clean and trim the beets. Halve them, then, depending on their size, cut each half in half, in thirds or in fourths.- Place the beet wedges in a steamer basket in a pot over boiling water. Cover the pot.
- While the beets are steaming, prepare the dressing. With a wire whisk combine all the dressing ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl.
- Steam small to medium beets 30+ minutes. Steam medium to large beets 35-40+ minutes. Use a fork to test and remove beets as they are tender to the bowl with the Balsamic Herb and Garlic Dressing. Use a rubber spatula to gently toss the beets in the dressing.
- Continue steaming the remaining beets, checking every 5 minutes until tender. Once tender, toss the beets in the dressing.
- While the beets are steaming, prepare the
salad accompaniments. - Bake the walnuts in a 300-degree oven for 10-12 minutes until toasted. Put aside to cool.
- Wash and dry the salad greens. Store them in the refrigerator until needed.
- Dice the feta cheese.
- Thinly slice the fresh mint. Keep it refrigerated until needed.
- Once all the beets are tender and tossed with the dressing, marinate together until the beets have cooled to room temperature, tossing occasionally.
- Assemble the Salad. Just before serving, toss
the beets with ¾ of the toasted walnuts, feta cheese and thinly-sliced mint. Reserve ¼ of each for garnishing the salad. - Tear or cut the greens and spread them out on a platter. Top the greens with all the beets and dressing. Garnish with the reserved walnuts, feta and mint.