Golden Beet and Walnut Salad Recipe
This is not your average beet salad recipe.
That’s because it’s been fully optimized for the purpose of hosting a romantic dinner date. The steps are broken out into “before she arrives” and “after she arrives” so you can spend more of your date connecting and less of it cooking. If you want your food to taste great and your relationship to be better off than before the meal, this is for you.
This recipe for golden beet salad with goat cheese and candied walnuts is the suggested appetizer course in my romantic dinner date guide. I recommend reading the guide if you plan to serve this to a lucky lady. And with that, let’s get to the recipe.
Dinnerware
To serve this, you’ll need:
One large bowl (to mix the salad)
Two large spoons (to mix the salad)
One small spoon (to transfer the goat cheese to the salad)
Two small serving bowls (to serve the salad)
Two sets of forks and knives (to eat the salad)
Ingredients
You can buy these the day of the dinner or a couple days before.
Two golden beets. Feel free to sub regular beets.
4 cups of arugula. Ideally already washed. Wash it otherwise.
2 oz of goat cheese.
1/2 cup of walnuts. We’re going to candy these, so look for ones that are raw and unsalted. Or just buy candied walnuts and skip the walnut preparation steps.
1 tbsp of butter. This will be for the candied walnuts.
1 shallot. This will be for the vinaigrette. If you can’t find a shallot, feel free to skip it.
Honey. This will be for the vinaigrette and for the walnuts.
Olive oil. This will be for the vinaigrette. Buy new olive oil if you’ve had yours for years. It does go bad!
Balsamic vinegar. This will be for the vinaigrette.
Salt. I prefer Maldon salt.
Instructions (before she arrives)
These are the steps you need to carry out in the preparation phase (i.e. before she arrives).
Roast the beets: Set the oven to 400ºf. Scrub the beets in the sink to remove any dirt. Then toss them in a bit of olive oil and wrap them in aluminum foil. Put them in the oven for an hour or until a knife easily pierces through them. Once they’re fully cooked, let them cool until they are easy to peel. Peel them and then slice them into pieces the size of half orange wedges. Put them in a container with a lid (or a ziploc bag) in the fridge until dinner time.
Clean the arugula: If the arugula was not pre-washed, rinse it in a bowl the sink and then dry it. Keep uncovered in the fridge until dinner time.
Candy the walnuts: Put 1/2 cup walnuts, 1 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp honey, and a pinch of salt in a nonstick pan. Over medium low heat, continuously mix the ingredients together until the walnuts are lightly browned and the honey and butter form a nice glaze around them. Feel free to taste some and add more honey, butter, or salt until it tastes right. Let them cool, then roughly chop them into ~1/4 walnut sized pieces. Keep in a container at room temperature until dinner time.
Prepare the vinaigrette: Take half of the shallot and dice it into tiny pieces. Really tiny! In a mason jar (or a small bowl if you don’t have one), combine the shallots, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp honey, and a pinch of salt. Shake the mason jar (or mix the bowl), then dip one piece of arugula into it to check to see how it tastes. Add more of whatever it needs, then keep it in the fridge in the jar (or bowl) until dinner time.
Instructions (when it’s time to eat)
You’ve already prepared everything, so you just need to put it all together now. Here’s what you should do:
Put the arugula in a large bowl.
Mix up the vinaigrette (it will have separated by now) then pour it over the arugula. Mix with two large spoons.
Add the chopped beets and half of the candied walnuts to the bowl and mix again with the big spoons.
Use the big spoons to transfer the salad to the serving bowls. Transfer the mixing bowl and big spoons into the dishwasher or into an organized pile next to the sink.
Add a few pieces of crumbled goat cheese on top, then add the remaining walnuts.
Serve. Describe the dish, present it with a smile, and sit down and eat your portion, too.
Instructions (When You’ve FInished)
Once you’ve both finished, collect all dinnerware (including the forks and knives — you should use new forks for the next course) and place it into the dishwasher or into an organized pile next to the sink. That’ll help you seamlessly transition to the main course.
