No Cooking Needed! In under 15 minutes you can have a beautiful, elegant and nutritious side salad or appetizer with our cold beet salad
- 6 1/2 ounces packaged cooked beets sliced
- 1/4 cup pistachios shelled and roughly chopped
- 6 ounces fresh arugula
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 pinches kosher salt
- 1/2 cup feta cheese
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 Tablespoons fresh mint chopped or chiffonade
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 grinds fresh black pepper
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Slice the beets into 1/8” slices. Make sure to oil your cutting board, knife and the hand holding the beets to prevent beet stains.
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Shell and roughly chop the pistachios.
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Chop the fresh mint or make a chiffonade by layering several leaves together, roll them into a cylinder and slice with a knife. This makes long pretty ribbons. Reserve a few to top the dip and beets with as a garnish.
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Make the dip by mixing the feta, buttermilk and chopped mint. Season to taste with salt and pepper. I used about ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and a few
grinds of black pepper.
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Mix a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil and a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper (I used a pinch of kosher salt and a couple grinds of black pepper), toss with the arugula.
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Put Feta dip in a bowl on a plate. Place dressed arugula on the plate and then top with beets.
Top with chopped pistachios, chiffonade of fresh mint and a few more grinds of freshly ground black pepper.
Optional: Toast the shelled pistachios in a dry skillet over medium heat for a few minutes or on a baking tray in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Once cooled, roughly chop. The toasting brings out a nuttier flavor.
To Serve Cold Beet Salad
You can make one big platter or small servings depending on how you want to serve it. For a dinner side dish I tend to make it on one big platter and a medium size bowl for the dip.
For appetizer or side salad servings I like to make individual plates and small ramekin for the dip.
To Plate The Cold Beet Salad: Fill a ramekin with some of the feta dip and place on the appetizer plate. Add the dressed arugula to ¾ of the plate. Top ½ the arugula and the remaining ¼ of the empty plate with the beets. You don’t have to follow this perfectly, it just looks pretty this way.
Top with chopped pistachios, chiffonade of fresh mint and a few more grinds of freshly ground black pepper. Top the dip with some of the fresh mint as well.
Dressing: I like a very light dressing but some people like more dressing than indicated, if so just double the amounts of oil and vinegar.
Time Saver: You can skip the feta dip and just sprinkle feta, goat or blue cheese over the arugula and cold beet salad.
Everything can be prepped up to a day ahead of time other than the chopping of the mint and the dressing of the arugula. Store ingredients separately and plate just before serving.