With bold, seductive colors of fiery red, orange and yellow, this combination of citrus and sweet beets can't be beat. The citrus acidity brings out the sweetness in the beets, making this a wonderful salad any time of year. You can also complement this salad by topping it with crumbled blue cheese and fresh cracked pepper.

Roasted Beets with Herb Citrus Dressing
Recipe courtesy of Jill Nussinow, MS, RD, The Veggie Queen
Serves 4 as a side dish or salad

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds red, gold or Chioggia beets, or a combination
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• salt and pepper
• Juice of 1 orange Juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley and basil or cilantro

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450°F.
• Trim the tops off the beets but leave the tails. Rub the beets with a little oil.
• Place beets in an oven safe baking dish or pan with the 1/4 cup water. Cover and put in the oven.
• Test for doneness by inserting a sharp knife after 30 minutes. You should be able to smoothly insert the knife. They may take up to 1 hour to cook, depending on their size.
• When they are done, let them cool a bit, then peel them and cut them either into rounds, half-rounds or chunks.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Combine the dressing ingredients - the orange juice through parsley. Dress the beets.
• Serve warm or chilled. You can also serve this over greens as a salad.