Beet, Citrus, and Whipped Goat Cheese Salad
I have been working on this Beet, Citrus, and Whipped Goat Cheese Salad recipe for a while now. It started with a similar beet and citrus salad from a restaurant over 15-years ago. Up until then I resigned myself to believe that beets would always be; pungent and overpowering. But this salad’s beets were sweet and tangy. I wasn’t doing a ton of recipe development at that point, but I did start ordering beet salads whenever I saw them on a menu after that.
Fast forward to today. This was actually one of the first recipes I wrote down on my To Do List. It took time to do the recipe justice, but I think the results are worth the wait.
I do consider this a winter or early-spring salad, since that is when citrus and root veggies are in season. If you are looking for something similar to eat when citrus is out of season, consider my Roasted Strawberry & Beet Flatbreads.
Get the Recipe: Beet, Citrus, and Whipped Goat Cheese Salad
Ingredients
Roasted & Marinated Beets
- 3 medium red beets, (about 550g)
- 1-2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 cup fresh orange juice, (3-4 oranges)
- ½ cup fresh grapefruit juice, (1-2 grapefruits)
- 1½ tablespoons Champagne vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon dark agave
Whipped Goat Cheese
- 4 oz plain goat cheese
- 3 tablespoons mascarpone cheese
- ½ tablespoon honey
- ¼ teaspoon lemon zest, (about ¼ of a lemon)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Marinated Beet, Citrus, and Goat Cheese Salad
- roasted and marinated beets
- whipped goat cheese
- 1-2 oranges, sliced
- 1 grapefruit, sliced
- ¼ cup roasted & salted pistachios, chopped
- 1-2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
Equipment
- kitchen or disposable gloves
- 1 chef knife
- 1 cutting board
- 1 cake or brownie pan
- Measuring spoons
- aluminum foil
- 1 large glass jar with lid (plastic will stain)
- 1 citrus reamer or juicer
- measuring Cups
- 1 stand mixer with beater attachment (optional)
- 1 bowl
- 1 kitchen scale (optional)
Instructions
Roasted & Marinated Beets:
- First, preheat your oven to 400°F (204°C). Then, chop the top and bottom of your beets off and give them a good scrub in your sink. (See notes) Next, place your scrubbed beets into an oven safe baking dish, pour in the oil and water and toss to coat. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour, until fork tender.
- While the beets are baking, make the marinade. Squeeze the citrus and combine all of the ingredients into a sealed container or jar. Give it a good mix and set the marinade aside.
- When the beets are done, peel the outer skin off of them. It’s easiest to do this by running them under cold water from your faucet and rubbing the skin off with your thumb and forefinger. The flesh underneath will be shiny and smooth, so keep going until all of the matte rough pieces have sloughed off.
- Once fully peeled, chop down the beets into uniform, thin-ish slices, (about ¼ in or .5cm). Add the cooked and sliced beets to the marinade and let them sit for a minimum of 8 hours (They are best when marinated for 24+ hours).
Whipped Honey and Lemon Goat Cheese:
- The next day, start by making the whipped goat cheese. First, add the cheeses to a stand mixer mixing bowl or a regular mixing bowl, so they can come up to room temperature a bit.
- Once the cheeses have reached a soft, spreadable texture, add in olive oil, honey, and lemon zest to the mixing bowl. If you are using a stand mixer, use a beater attachment to whip everything together. If you are using a regular bowl, use either a hand mixer or a fork to mix until the results look like thick frosting. Set the mixture aside for assembly.
Prep and Salad Assembly
- Next, prep the remaining ingredients of salad assembly. First, cut the orange and grapefruit slices (see FAQs for cutting supremes/wedges). To do this, cut off the top and bottom of the oranges and grapefruit, to make a flat/stable surface for cutting and easy access to the meat of the fruit. Now, slide your knife from top to bottom, curving with the fruit, in between the flesh and the white pith. Rotate the fruit as you cut, until all of the peel is gone. Once you’ve fully cut away the peel, turn the fruit on its side so the north and south polls are horizontal and then use a paring knife to cut thin-ish slices, about ¼ in or .5cm. You’ll need to be careful not to press or saw too forcefully into the citrus. There is no peel to protect the juice from being squeezed out of the pulp. Set the slices aside.
- Now, chop the pistachios to your preferred size. (See FAQs if you have raw pistachios) And measure out the white balsamic vinegar.
- To plate a salad, spread ⅓ of the whipped goat cheese on a plate with the back of a spoon. Then, use tongs to place the marinated beets and citrus slices down (in 2-3 layers) on top of the cheese. Top with some of the chopped pistachios and a drizzle of the white balsamic.
Notes
- See FAQ for a more traditional salad option with “Spring Mix” base and additional olive oil. It does not include whipped goat cheese but, rather, crumbled goat cheese. Make sure to decide which option you’d like to make before buying ingredients.
- Wear gloves when working with beets! Your hands will stain without them. Coating your hands in oil and rinsing in water will help, but it won’t save you entirely.
- Red beets have the most robust taste of all the beets. In fact, using golden or candy cane beets, instead of red beets, can be a good swap if you want a milder beet flavor.
- Because of the sugar content and the vinegar, the beets will keep in the marinade for up to 2 weeks.
- Regardless of how you slice your citrus, there will be quite a bit of liquid on your cutting board and hands, keep a paper/kitchen towel handy!
- You can also plate the whole thing as one large salad on a serving platter.
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
If you decide to make a more traditional, leafy salad, then you will need to do several things:
1. Cut the beets into smaller pieces or sticks (after roasting and before adding them to the marinade).
2. Cut wedges (citrus supremes, see next FAQ) out of the oranges and grapefruit instead of slices.
3. Add 8-10oz (227-284g) of “Spring Mix” salad to your ingredient list.
4. Make a quick dressing (mixing olive oil and white balsamic at a 1:1 ratio) instead of just drizzling white balsamic on top. (Roughly 1-2tbsp or 15-30ml of each ingredient.)
5. Skip making the whipped goat cheese, and instead crumble cold goat cheese over the salad along with the pistachios, after it’s assembled.
For citrus supremes, cut off the top and bottom of the oranges and grapefruit, to make a flat/stable surface for cutting and easy access to the meat of the fruit. Now, slide your knife from top to bottom, curving with the fruit, in between the flesh and the white pith. Rotate the fruit as you cut, until all of the peel is gone. Once you’ve fully cut away the peel, use your knife to slice a wheel or cut out a wedge of fruit (or supreme) from in between the white-lines (membranes). Repeat the process until you have all the citrus wedges you need.
Make yourself some roasted pistachios while the cheeses are coming to temperature. To do this, preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Then, spread the pistachios out on a baking tray. Toast them in the oven for 10-15 minutes, moving them around at least once. When done, pour them onto a separate plate or tray to cool. Once cooled, you can chop them to whatever size you desire for a salad topping.
Sure! Other nuts, seeds, and random crispy toppings can top this marinated beet and citrus salad to suit your tastes. Just consider which version of the salad you intend to make before choosing the topping.
I recommend also trying toasted pecans, walnuts, or pinenuts. Pepitas or sunflower seeds can also work here. And, lastly, we can’t forget the power of a crouton or even crispy shallots.
Yes, here are some possible substitutes.
– If you plan to swap out the marscapone, créme fraîche (a little more sour) or cream cheese (less neutral of a flavor) can be acceptable substitutes.
– Goat cheese is a bit more difficult to swap, but ricotta (mild and spreadable), farmer’s cheese (mild, slightly salty, and crumbly), or Australian-style marinated feta (salty and creamy) could work in this application as well.
So, this recipe calls for plain goat cheese, but fruit flavored goat cheeses are very welcome. I’ve seen honey, lemon, yuzu, blueberry, etc that can all be swapped.
I do need to make two quick notes. If you use a citrus goat cheese, leave out the lemon zest. And if you use a honey goat cheese, leave out the honey. Enjoy!
Much like potatoes, beets can be checked with a fork or knife. You should be able to slide a knife through the flesh of the cooked beet without resistence.
– Beets: For the beets, look for beets with the tops still attached. The beet leaves will tell you a lot about how fresh the beets are. If they are still crisp with little breakage, that’s a good start. The beets themselves should be firm and not have any sponginess when you press into them.
– Citrus: The oranges and grapefruits shouldn’t be bruised or soft either. The pith should have a nice firmness. Grapefruits should have noticeable pink spots. Color is less important in oranges. (Typically the perfect oranges you see on the shelves are artificially dyed to be that way.) Lastly, citrus should be heavier than it looks. If you pick up an orange or grapefruit and it feels almost like the outside is cork, that means the pith is very thick and it’s likely less ripe. You might need to buy extra to have enough for the recipe.
– Leafy Greens: The obvious response here is look for fresh crisp green leaves. Avoid packaging with lightening of the leaves from green to yellow and any wilting. Also stay away from containers with lots of moisture present and pieces of roughage sticking to each other. They are past their prime. If you grow your own greens, even better!
If you are making this salad when citrus is out of season, there is a good chance the marinade won’t be as sweet. You can fix this by adding more agave, to taste. For reference, you are looking for a tangy (vinegar), salty (kosher salt) marinade that has a sweet edge, but is not cloying. Almost like a salty drinking vinegar, if you’ve ever tried that.
