Blood Orange, Beet, and Fennel Salad

The older I get, the more I love the foods that I refused to even taste as a child. This salad includes several of those flavors - beets, fennel, and onion. Let me explain. I grew up in a tiny little town in rural Minnesota where you were either Lutheran or Catholic, Scandinavian or German, and lived on a farm or in town. At every family gathering we ate pickled beets, which to an 8 year old are decidedly gross. My disgust for pickled beets probably had very little to do with the beets and more to do with the fact that the beets were served alongside potato sausage, pickled herring, creamed peas, and lutefisk. Thank goodness for lefse, otherwise I wouldn't have eaten anything! It wasn't until this past summer when my mother-in-law planted beets in my garden that I first ate beets that weren't pickled, and it turns out they are very delicious and one of my new favorite foods!

There is a reason why beets are commonly found on the menus of the finest restaurants. They have an earthy, hard-to-describe flavor that pairs beautifully with baby greens and vinaigrette. I like to roast them before using them in salads because it helps enhance their natural sweetness, but they're also delicious grilled with a little butter. Beets are an excellent source of fiber, folate, manganese, potassium and vitamin C. At the market, look for small firm beets as they are more tender. Fennel is another highly unappreciated ingredient you should get to know. It's a goofy looking bulb I'll give you that, but both the bulb and the greens are useful in cooking. It's extremely low in calories but loaded with fiber and vitamin C, and has a wonderful sweet and savory licorice-like flavor. To balance out the earthy flavors in this salad, I've also added blood oranges which have a delicious blend of orange and raspberry flavors. Right now is blood orange season, so if you take anything from this article, go out and treat yourself to a blood orange.

I do not have the knife skills to properly section an orange, so I use a knife to peel the orange and then slice it into the salad. Avoid getting any of the white pith into your slices because it tastes bitter. If you want to try your hand a sectioning an orange, here's a very useful tutorial. I pair this with a simple red wine vinaigrette, but you could also dress this with just a little extra orange juice. Now is the perfect time for you to get (re)acquainted with some of these under-appreciated ingredients and make this salad. It just might make you forget that it's winter..at least for now. Enjoy!

Blood Orange, Beet, and Fennel Salad, Serves 4
4 cups mixed salad greens
3 small beets
1 bulb fennel
1/4 red onion
1 blood orange

Trim the green leaves off the beet and wash well. Place the beets onto a large piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with a teaspoon of olive oil. Fold the foil into a packet and roast at 425 degrees. Start checking the beets at 25 minutes with a fork for doneness. Let beets cool slightly before handling; cooked beets should slip out of their skins easily with a paring knife. Slice the beets in half and then into 1/4" wedges. Set aside.

Cut the stalks and root end off the fennel bulb.  Slice the bulb in half and then into thin slices. Take some of the feathery green fennel leaves and chop them up for garnish. Peel and slice or section orange.  Slice red onion into thin slices. Toss beets, fennel, fennel leaves, onion, and orange together. Serve with your favorite red wine vinaigrette or dress simply with a little olive oil and a squeeze of fresh orange juice.