Monday, November 01, 2010

Roasted Beet Salad w/Sauteed Chicken and Feta Cheese!

What a great salad inspired by Maurizio's restaurant "Mangia la Pizza"! So healthy, so cheap and tasty too!

Recipe for one salad:

1 medium roasted beet (golden or purple) cooled, peeled and diced
Olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder
1-2 cups green salad mix (I used a spring mix)
1 Tbsp chopped onion
1/2 tomato chopped
1 boneless chicken breast, marinated, sauteed and sliced (you may omit this if you are vegetarian)
2 Tbsp balsamic vinaigrette (I used Trader Joe's brand)
1 Tbsp crumbled feta cheese (Maurizio uses goat cheese)

Cut the tops and bottoms off of the beet(s) and discard. Scrub beet(s) clean and pat dry. Rub outer skins with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Place in a pie pan and roast in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes until tender when pierced with a fork. Let beets cool, take off peeling by hand and dice into bite size pieces. Marinate chicken breasts for one hour in Italian dressing and saute' in a frying pan on medium heat for about 7-10 minutes on each side. Let chicken cool and slice lengthwise. Assemble salad ingredients and top with diced beets, chicken and feta cheese. Drizzle balsamic vinaigrette on top! Bon Appetite!

P.S. Fresh roasted beets have an amazing flavor unlike the ones out of a can that I used to eat when I was a kid (I liked those too)! I had gotten a bunch (4) of the golden beets at the farmers market. I roasted them all together and used one per individual salad. They are light, sweet and delicious!