Simple and healthy, Beet and Avocado salad, sprinkled with pistachios and drizzled with a citrusy vinaigrette!
Quick, grab a pen and paper and write down your top 5 favorite foods. What are they?
No matter what year, what season, or where I am, the numero uno top food item on my list is always avocado. I once read that some ultra-thin celebrities avoid eating avocados because they are fattening (never mind that avocados contain good fats, the ones your body need).
That is reason enough for me to never ever want to be an ultra-thin celebrity. Yikes! Give up avocados? Never!
There are almost always a few in my fridge, at various stages of ripeness. So it’s easy enough to whip up a salad that makes use of avocados, like this lovely beet salad with pistachios and a citrus vinaigrette.
Any color beet will do, though the red ones will tend to stain everything around them, so for presentation purposes I love yellow or orange beets. The tanginess of the citrus vinaigrette balances the sweetness of the beets and the richness of the avocados.
So tell me, are avocados on your list?
Avocado Beet Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette Recipe
- Prep time: 20 minutes
- Cook time: 40 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients
- 4 medium-sized beets (any color), green tops removed, beets scrubbed clean
- 1 just ripe avocado
- 4 ounces mixed green lettuces
- 2 tablespoons pistachios, chopped
Citrus Vinaigrette:
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar (unseasoned)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- A Pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
Method
1 Cook the beets: Place beets in a medium saucepan and cover with an inch of water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to maintain a low simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the beets, until easily pierced with the tines of a fork.
2 Make the vinaigrette: Whisk together the citrus vinaigrette ingredients in a small bowl.
3 Toss the beets in vinaigrette: When the beets are done, drain them, and peel off the outer skin. Cut the beets in half, and the halves into wedges.(Tip: use a plastic cutting board when cutting red beets. Red beets will stain wooden cutting boards.)
Place the beet wedges in a bowl and toss with a tablespoon of the vinaigrette.
4 Cut and peel the avocado, cut the avocado into wedges (see how to peel and cut an avocado).
5 Arrange the salad: Toss the salad greens with a half of the citrus vinaigrette. Arrange the dressed greens on serving plates.
Arrange the beet wedges and avocado wedges on top of the salad greens. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Drizzle remaining vinaigrette over the salads.
