I’ve always thought that some of the best recipes come to me while walking through the grocery store. It can be an awesome ingredient or beautiful piece of produce that sparks the idea for a delicious meal. In today’s case this awesome ingredient is golden beets. When I saw these bad boys I immediately thought of whipping up a rustic winter salad with the beets being the star.

To prep these delicious little golden nuggets start off by roasting them whole with the skins on. Once roasted the skins will come right off. I then cut them into cubes and caramelized them with a little butter, brown sugar, and pepper.

I used a mix of spinach and mesclun greens as the base of the salad. I then topped the salad with the beets, some thick cut maple bacon, blood orange slices, brie cheese, and a couple homemade croutons. Lastly for the dressing I used some of the blood orange juice, olive oil, dijon mustard, and some spices to taste. The tartness of the blood orange mixes perfectly with the creaminess of the brie and the sweetness of the golden beets.

This salad has everything, and what makes it even better is that it is seasonal. The quality of your ingredients is always going to better when choosing items that are in season at the time. Winter is all about beets and root vegetables and I am living for it.

xx Casey