Roasted Beet & Kale Salad

Everyone is aware of the current health craze of society where people worship kale and this concept of a "super-food". You can find a roasted beet salad on almost every modern restaurant menu and with this new kale craze, I've come up with this recipe to make it a more pleasurable experience to take part in the trend and keep your health on track.

Ingredients:

• 3 Red Beets 

• Goat Cheese

• 100% Natural Maple Syrup

• Spinach
• Kale
• Walnuts
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Aluminum Foil

Recipe:

• Preheat your oven to 400°F
• Peel your beets and cover them in extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper before wrapping them in aluminum foil and placing them onto a baking sheet. Allow your beets to roast in the oven for approximately an hour.

• To make the salad dressing, add 5tbsp of balsamic vinegar and 2tbsp of your all-natural (preferably Canadian) maple syrup. Whisk the vinegar and syrup together and add 3 pinches of pepper. If you need more dressing for a bigger salad, double or triple the recipe. If you prefer that the dressing be less sweet, decrease the serving of maple syrup to 1tbsp. 
• While your beets are roasting, you can begin preparing your salad. Chop and wash your spinach and your green kale (amount depending on how big you want your salad to be). 
• Note: Do not prepare your salad until the beets have finished roasting and have been cooled and then chilled in the fridge.
• Once your beets have been roasted and chilled, pour your dressing over your chopped kale and spinach and begin assembling the salad.
• Chop your beets into small cubes and add a handful of crumbled goat cheese, walnuts and beets to the top of your dressed kale and spinach and you're done!

 

I promise you this salad is decadent, indulgent and healthy all at once.

 

Wine Pairing: 

 

When it comes to pairing wine and food, you should try to match the flavour intensity and general profile of the food with the wine’s weight and flavour profile. With this salad, I would recommend two different options.

Konzelmann Estate Winery produces a Riesling Traminer (a genetic crossing of Riesling and Gewurztraminer) that is not only fun and interesting, but pairs well with this salad because of how the residual sugar and complex, oily characteristics compliment the sweet maple dressing and nuttiness of the salad.

For a drier alternative, The Foreign Affair 2012 Sauvignon Blanc is crisp and refreshing with a complex tropical and weighty characteristic that pairs phenomenally with the goat cheese.

As always, choose a pairing that resonates with your own personal palate and compliments the dish to heighten your dining experience.