• Author: Cookie and Kate
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
• Yield: 6 to 8 servings 1x
• Category: Side Dish
• Method: Roasted
• Cuisine: Mediterranean
• Diet: Vegetarian

You’ll love this vibrant, healthy dish from the new Eat What You Want Cookbook by Gaby Dalkin. It features roasted beets over ultra creamy labneh, with avocado, homemade basil vinagrette and fresh herbs. Serve it as a side dish, salad or light meal. Recipe yields 6 to 8 servings.

Ingredients

Beet Salad

• 4 bunches beets (2 to 3 pounds should be plenty), half orange and half red
• 2 shallots, peeled and sliced into quarters
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups labneh (labneh is extra-thick Greek yogurt—see notes for details)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons basil vinaigrette (below)
• 1 to 2 ripe avocados, pitted, peeled and sliced into wedges or chunks
• Fresh mint leaves
• Fresh dill leaves
• Flaky sea salt or kosher salt

Basil vinaigrette (this makes extra!)

• 1 shallot, roughly chopped
• 2 cups (95 grams) tightly packed fresh basil leaves (stems removed)
• 1 clove garlic
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Scrub and trim the beets and slice them into wedges (about ½ to ¾-inch thick on the widest edge). Toss the beets and shallots with the olive oil and season with the red pepper flakes (go easy on the flakes if you’re sensitive to spice), salt (I used 1 teaspoon kosher salt) and pepper. Transfer the seasoned beets and shallots to the prepared baking sheet and roast for 40 to 50 minutes, until fork tender. Remove from the oven and set aside to come to room temperature.
3. Spread the labneh on a large platter, dollop with basil vinaigrette, and scatter with the beets and avocado wedges. Sprinkle with fresh mint leaves, dill, and flaky salt (don’t hold back) and serve.

Notes

This recipe comes from Cook What You Want by Gaby Dalkin. I added a few of my cooking notes in parentheses. 

Labneh note: I cheated and use Siggi’s 4% yogurt instead. Gaby suggests that you can find labneh, an extra-thick yogurt, at specialty markets. Or, strain plain Greek yogurt through a cheesecloth for a few hours.

Change it up: If you can’t find fresh basil, dill and mint, you could simplify and use just one. Feel free to substitute Italian parsley or cilantro for any/all of them—beets go well with all of these herbs.

Storage suggestions and leftovers: This dish should keep well in the refrigerator, covered, for about three days. Leftover basil vinaigrette is great on fresh, summery green salads.

Make it dairy free/vegan: You could use vegan sour cream in place of the labneh.

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.