Beet Date Apple & Pistachio Salad

I have a confession, I wasn’t quite sure if I actually liked beets until I recently had a few amazing dishes at a couple of restaurants. One in particular was a beet salad at Ripple in Washington DC. For all of my top chef fans out there, until recently, Marjorie Meek-Bradley was the Executive Chef. Last month, I had a friend visiting for a conference near the restaurant so we decided to check it out. Everything we ordered was absolutely amazing, but the beet salad had a taste unlike anything I have ever had. For better or worse, they change the menu quite often, and when I went to look up the dish a week later in hopes of recreating it, to my horror, it was no longer on the menu. But have no fear, I went to great lengths to learn what was in that salad! I was finally able to connect with the restaurant through Instagram to find out the ingredients in the salad. The recipe included beets, date chocolate puree, orange puree, macadamia nuts, and pickled apple.

However, I am by no means a professional chef, I have never taken a cooking class in my life. That being said,  date chocolate puree seemed a bit above my comfort zone, a bit intensive for a salad, and perhaps a recipe that wouldn’t quite fit with my goal of sharing fairly easy recipes. The recipe below is my take on the salad, reigning in on the skill level and time need to create the dish. I think the salad turned out great, but I have to admit, I still think the one at Ripple was better, if you ever have a chance to go there, you have to try it!

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Beet Date Apple & Pistachio Salad

A salad, yes, a salad to satisfy anyone's sweet tooth.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 1

Ingredients

• 1 small beet
• 1 small golden beet
• 1/2 orange peeled
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 dates pitted
• 1/2 apple
• 10 pistachios
• 1 cup mixed greens
• optional: balsamic vinegar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Peel off the skin of the beet and chop into cubes.
3. Using a mandolin, thinly slice the golden beet.
4. Cover the red beets in tinfoil and the golden beets in tinfoil and place them on a cookie sheet
5. Roast for 20-25 minutes.
6. In a small sauce pan had 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water. Mix into the sugar dissolves in water
7. When the sugar is dissolved, add half of the orange into the pan. Let the orange soak up the sugar mixture for 15-20 minutes.
8. Let the orange mixture cool for a couple of minutes.
9. Pour the mixture into a food processor/blender. Blend on high until the mixture becomes a smooth orange sauce.

10. Chop the dates, the apples into matchsticks, and shell the pistachios.

11. Assemble the salad, add the two types of beets, greens, dates, apples, and pistachios.

12. Spread orange sauce on the plate with the greens.

13. To eat mix the greens with the sauce, add some balsamic vinegar if you please.

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