Roasted Beet Salad with Pear and Herbs & Garlic Cheddar

Recipe Creator: Chef John

This colourful salad is full of freshness and flavour! Sunny Dog Herbs & Garlic Cheddar adds texture and pairs perfectly with roasted beets and sweet pear.

Ingredients

  • 5-6 leaves of bright and juice red Canadian grown living lettuce
  • 5-6 leaves of radicchio
  • 1 handful of arugula
  • 1 red beet, roasted
  • 1 golden beet, roasted
  • 1 small ripe Anjou or Bartlett pear
  • 1 handful of walnut halves (approximately 10)
  • 3 oz. Sunny Dog Barkin' Herbs & Garlic Cheddar, crumbled
  • Micro greens and course salt and pepper for garnish
  • Honey Dijon Vinaigrette:
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 6 tbsp. honey
  • 6 tbsp. Dijon mustard
  • 4-6 tbsp. red wine vinegar or to taste
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • 1 pinch of salt

Directions

Roasted Beets

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
  2. Trim off the tops and tails of beets. Leave about one inch of the top on. It will act as a small handle with it comes to peeling the beets.
  3. Take two pieces of foil and place the red beets on one piece and the golden beet on the other. Create two separate pouches for steaming.
  4. Drizzle olive oil over the beets and sprinkle with salt and pepper before folding foil into a pouch.
  5. Place the foil pouches on a pan and roast the beets for 45 minutes to 1 hour. To check for doneness use a pairing knife. You should be able to pierce the beet.
  6. Allow the beets to cool in the pouch for about 10 minutes. This allows for better handling when peeling the beets.
  7. Use disposable gloves so you don't stain your hands. With a little pressuring wipe the beets with a paper towel and skins should slide off easily.
  8. Place peeled beets in the refrigerator for slicing later.

Salad Dressing

  1. Whisk all ingredients in a bowl and add olive oil slowly to emulsify or use an immersion blender in a milkshake cup. Dressing will keep nicely in a mason jar in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Building the Salad

  1. Place red living lettuce in a  mixing bowl with radicchio and arugula. Add dressing to taste about .5 fluid oz. and mix with your hand. Once lettuce is coated place the larger pieces of radicchio and red lettuce on the bottom of the bowl and make a nest with the arugula.
  2. Slice beets in 3/4" slices and fan out around the arugula.
  3. Slice pear in 1/4" slices. Fan out the pear on the arugula.
  4. Sprinkle with walnuts.
  5. Place crumbled Sunny Dog Barkin' Herbs & Garlic Cheddar cheese on the salt.
  6. Garnish with microgreens, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.
Notes