Roasted Golden Beets w/ Pickled Onions

Beets are always in season.
I grow them all summer long, but my supermarket has them 365 days a year.

Golden, Red Ace and Chioggia (candy stripe) beets. I love them all.

It's going to be a few months before I see any produce popping up in my garden, so the supermarché will have to do.

I bought a huge sac of red onions at Trader Joe's so I could pickle them, and a bunch of golden yellow beets.

What's a girl to do?

I took Domenica's idea of using the remaining beet roasting juices, (which I would normally pour into the sink), to make a delicious dressing mixed with some white balsamic vinegar.

Genius!

The pickled onions on top are amazing and the leftovers are so good on any sandwich: grilled cheese, tuna fish or egg salad. I love them.

Sprinkle some pistachio nuts and feta cheese on top and this was one of the best salads ever.

Here's how:

Roasted Golden Beet Salad w/ Pickled Red Onions:

~ 1 bunch of golden beets, uniform in size, greens removed and saved for another use
~ olive oil & kosher salt
~ 1 bunch of arugula
~ handful of pistachios or toasted walnuts
~ pickled onions (recipe to follow)
~ feta or goat cheese

Make the Pickled Red Onions:

2 large red onions, sliced very thin
1 cup of cider vinegar
pinch of kosher salt
2 cinnamon sticks
6 whole cloves
a dash of red hot pepper flakes
1/2 cup of white sugar

Slice the onions and place in a deep jar or glass bowl.
Boil the vinegar and sugar with spices for 2 minutes until sugar is dissolved.
Pour the hot vinegar over the sliced onions in the jar and let sit for a few hours.
Keep refrigerated. Keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks or more.

Roast the beets:

Trim and wash the beets and lay them in a large piece of aluminum foil.
Drizzle w/ some olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.
Fold up the foil to create a packet.

Depending on the size of the beets, roast about 1 hour at 400F.
Let the beets cool, then rub off the skins. The skins should come off easily.

Cut into cubes or slices or whatever shape you like and place in a container or bowl.

To make a dressing: pour out the roasting beet juices from the foil into a small bowl and add a few tablespoons of white balsamic vinegar.
Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt & ground black pepper. Whisk with a fork and pour over the cut up beets in the bowl.

Let marinate at room temperature until ready to assemble the rest of the salad.

On a large platter, arrange the arugula.

In the center, place a big mound of golden beets and top with the pickled onions.

Throw on some pistachios or toasted walnuts around the platter and sprinkle w/ goat cheese or feta.

Use some of the pickling juices w/ some walnut oil if you like, to coat the greens, otherwise just toss the onions and beets to create a great salad.