Beet Salad With Coriander-Yogurt Dressing

On cooking beets - I don’t like baking them wrapped in aluminum foil - it is too wasteful. Instead I put in as many as my mini slow cooker can hold and switch it on high. They cook through in 2-3 hours and the skin slips off with a little persuasion by the vegetable peeler.

Simple kitchen hack. Rinse the chick peas and give them a good spin in the salad spinner. They will be much drier and roast up quicker than drying them with a towel.

I thought this salad sounded perfect…and then I made it. While it’s a good starting off point, it’s simply too bland as is. I wound up adding pieces of orange (you’ve zested it, so why not use the rest of it). I also added blue cheese. Now, it sounds as though I’m just making the regular ol’ beet/blue cheese/zingy fruit salad. *But* the crispy chick peas and the yogurt dressing do make it different. (Oh, and maybe I’d use lemon rather than rice vinegar.)

While I enjoyed the dressing and flavors of this salad, the preparation and presentation created an awkward amalgamation. The problem for me was the 1/2 inch slices of beets mixed with the arugula. It is not cohesive. You can't have the perfect bite. After preparing it as directed, I cut the beets into more manageable chunks, half inch or smaller. This step made it easier to mix with the arugula and to get the perfect bite. Next time I make it, I'll add bite-sized pieces of orange.

I'll take beet greens over arugula any day.....waste not want not.

It would seem that using any method other than roasting the beets misses the point. It’s not about peeling off the skins; however, it is about developing a rich flavor profile that microwaving or pressure cooking beets does not lend itself to.

Recipe indicates to zest the orange over the roasted chick peas under Step 1.

This is a delightful salad and will be on regular rotation! As suggested by others, dice beets rather then slice, add in the flesh of the orange in bite sized pieces once you’re done with the zesting, and a sprinkle of chopped pistachios makes this even yummier!

KatieC & DiabeS You don’t have to waste the aluminum foil if you wash it after the beets are done. I reuse foil all the time until it’s tearing and ultimately becomes too small. At that point it goes into my recycling bin.

Why cook the beets? If you have a mandolin, the taste and crunchy texture are amazing !

Even quicker, if you have a pressure cooker give the beets a scrub if needed and put them in your pressure cooker, skins on at 15 lbs pressure with 3/4 C. water for 10 min. or what ever your pressure cooker directions recommend for beets. Presto, you have cooed beets and the skins slide right off as with the slow cooker method.

I used watercress and roasted honeynut squash instead of arugula and beets. As another commenter suggested, this recipe is a good base for improvisation. The chickpeas are nice and I will use them more broadly.

Another approach to cooking beets: use the microwave. For beets that are 2 inches in diameter, split them in half through stem end and lay them flat on the bottom of a glass or ceramic lidded casserole. Add water just to cover and microwave on "high" for 8-9 minutes. I don't know if this uses less energy than the instant pot method, but it's definitely quicker.

I agree with KateC regarding using aluminum foil. I made beets recently in the Instant Pot. I put them unpeeled on a trivet, added 1 C of water and used high pressure for 20 minutes, natural release for 10 minutes, then manual release. The skins slipped off easily, the beets were perfectly cooked for a salad and it was the easiest method of cooking that I've found.

It was a nice change from my standard beet/toasted walnut/warm chevre salad, but I must have done something wrong with the chickpeas. Maybe they were crispy when they first came out of oven, but I'd prepped them earlier and by dinnertime they were mealy and dry. I retoasted them in a bit of olive oil on the stovetop, but they did not thrill me.