Break out your heart-shaped cookie cutter (or find one on Amazon). But it isn’t to make cookies.
This Valentine’s Day, add some beets — and puns — to your dinner with the Beeting Heart Salad from the recent release “The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook.”
“This salad is fun, easy, and beautiful — just like you!,” writes cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz, who throws in some bubbly too in the form of a Champagne vinaigrette.
“Champagne vinegar is intriguingly delicious and makes the salad sound super fancy, but you can get away with white wine vinegar, too, and no one will be the wiser,” she notes.
Also good to know: Use big beets, the author advises, so you have plenty to work with when making those hearts (a heart-shaped cookie cutter about an inch in diameter is also ideal). And don’t let those beet scraps go to waste — you can use them in a juicer, or make some borscht, Moskowitz recommends.
Beeting Heart Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette
Serves 6
For the beets
4 softball-size beets (about 21⁄2 pounds), cut into 1⁄2-inch slices
2 tbsp. olive oil salt
For the dressing
2 tsp. olive oil
1 cup sliced shallots
1⁄4 cup grapeseed oil
3 tbsp. Champagne vinegar
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
11⁄2 tsp. sugar
1⁄2 tsp. salt
For the salad
1 lb. mixed greens
Make the beets: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Put the beet slices on the baking sheet, toss with the olive oil, and season with salt. Bake, tossing once, until the beets are nice and tender, about 40 minutes.
Remove the beets from the oven and wait until they are cool enough to handle. Use a metal heart-shaped cookie cutter to punch out heart shapes. If you’d rather not do shapes, you can cut the slices into half-moons for the salad.
Make the dressing: Preheat a large pan over medium heat. Heat the olive oil, then sauté the shallots until translucent, about 5 minutes.
Transfer the shallots to a blender, along with the remaining dressing ingredients, and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust for salt. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Assemble the salad: In a large mixing bowl, toss together the greens and the dressing. Portion the salad onto individual plates and top each with roasted beets to serve.
