Goat and Beet Salad

Bryan Baker,

Prairie Ink Restaurant + Bakery

The secret to making salads loaded with textures and flavours is having some of your favourite add-ons at the ready for a quick prep. The orange balsamic dressing and candied walnuts recipes yield more than needed for two servings and can be kept for future use. Bryan loves the creativity of cooking and uses  colour-boosting beet and oranges to punch up the heartiness of this salad. 

Ingredients

Salad

4 cups chopped lettuce

1 large beet

2 mandarin oranges

1/4 cup candied walnuts

1/4 cup orange balsamic dressing

1/2 cup goat cheese, crumbled

Candied Nuts

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp salt

1 Tbsp water

Orange Balsamic Dressing

2 1/4 cups orange juice

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1 orange, juiced and zested

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp cumin

1 1/3 cups olive oil

Method

Beet

1.  Cut off each end of the beet and place in a pot of boiling water for 30 minutes. 
2.  Cool and peel by hand. 
3.  Cut in half crosswise and slice into even pieces. 

Candied Walnuts

1.  To a pan on med-low heat, add all candied nut ingredients except walnuts.
2.  Bring to a low boil and boil until mixture reaches a caramel consistency and colour.
3.  Add walnuts, mix and remove from heat. 
4.  Spread out to cool before adding to salad.

Salad

1.  Wash lettuce of preference. 
2.  Divide lettuce between two bowls
3.  Whisk together all ingredients for dressing
4.  Add each of the salad ingredients to each bowl, dividing evenly.

Yield 2 servings