Creamy Roasted Beet & Cucumber Salad with Feta & Dill
This bright pink fresh cucumber beet salad is pure joy, the feta and dill are everything with the yogurt dressing.
Adapted from this recipe from Paleo Spirit (image source) for the Week 7 CSA box with Gathering Together Farm’s 2020 Summer Season CSA.
I searched for a recipe for this salad after something very similar was made for me by my friend, Tara who did our Food Processing at the farm at the time, everything from salsas to kimchi to pickles, and she also happens to be my next-door neighbor. I got back home from market on Saturday, deliriously exhausted after the 16-hour day going up to Portland and back, and she had a big plate of food waiting for me. GRATITUDE. One of the items on that plate was this salad, and it was so crazy delicious, so bright and refreshing alongside the rest of the meal. I had to share it with you all. —LB
Ingredients
1 bu. Beets
1-2 Cucumbers
2-4 Scallions (or Fresh Onion tops)
1/2 - 1 \ bu. Dill (or Fennel, Tarragon, Basil, or Mint)
½ cup Feta Cheese
Dressing
½ Grapefruit’s juice,
Splash of olive oil
1/2 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
Optional (but highly recommended) Toasted Nut: hazelnuts, walnuts, or almonds
Directions
Cook Beets: If you don’t want to roast the beets and heat up your whole house, Tara’s trick is to toss the beets into a rice cooker with a splash of water for an hour. Let cool 15 min and rub skins off. Slice into chunks and place into a big bowl.
Slice up cucumbers into bite-sized pieces, add to beets in bowl.
Finely slice scallions and add to bowl.
For the dressing, squeeze grapefruit juice and olive oil into a magic bullet or food processor and give it a pulse so that the oil & acid don’t separate. Toss the beets, cukes, & scallions with the dressing.
Add in feta, nuts, and dill, and toss again.
Add salt to taste if desired, the feta might give it enough saltiness.
