French Lentil and Roasted Beet Salad

The task at hand: to turn these glorious, fresh golden beets into a beautiful salad...

I've always had a tough time locating golden beets. It seems as if they are nowhere to be found unless you're at a well-stocked Farmer's Market. So when I was contemplating vegetables to have with dinner at Whole Foods the other day, my eyes locked onto these impossible-to-find gems. I wasn't sure what I'd do with them, but I decided to tuck them safely into my shopping cart and bring them home with me. Thank God for Whole Foods Market.

I found what I thought would be a winner of a recipe in the Food Network Kitchen's Cookbook: French Lentil and Roasted Beet Salad. One problem. No French de Puy lentils in my pantry. Back to Whole Foods I went. No French lentils there either. What was that I said about thanking God for Whole Foods Market? In order to get this salad on the table for dinner, I had to give up on my obsession to have the de Puys and settle for the everyday variety. I hate having to settle. Regardless of having to use the lesser lentil, this salad was exceptional.

The beets were washed, most of the greens removed, drizzled with olive oil and wrapped tightly in foil to roast for an hour in the oven.

The lentils were washed and then given time to simmer with spices for 25 minutes or so.

During the simmer time, the sherry dressing was prepared. Part of the dressing was mixed with the cooked and drained lentils, and some was saved for tossing with the salad greens.

The skins slid right off of the roasted beets. I diced them up and added them to the lentils along with chopped parsley. (I saved a few to sprinkle on top of the salad for additional color.










Assembly... Tossed the greens with a little of the dressing... layered greens, then lentils, then a sprinkle of goat cheese.

Ta da! A phenomenal salad. Worth making if you've got French lentils lying around... or even if you don't.

This recipe can be found HERE.

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