Spring Spinach Salad with Creamy Beets

FRESH PRODUCE TIPS:

  - Spinach is best for salads when it is young and tender, if you’re growing spinach yourself then the first and second harvest will make tasty salads but as the plants age the leaves can become more bitter. For the third or even forth harvests, let the leaves grow out a little longer and use these harvests for cooked spinach dishes. 

  - Beets can be harvested at any size once they’re at least the size of a golf ball. Sometimes in the garden I will wait to thin my beets until they’re all roughly this size, harvest a bunch to give the other beets room, and then you’ll get a second harvest of larger, baseball sized beets later. Early baby beets are very tender, perfect for salads!  Beets can be roasted or boiled to prepare; roasting beets allow their natural sugars to caramelize slightly, but it can be tricker to remove the outer skin. Boiling beets is a sure way to get the outer layer of skin off and preserve their vibrant color but the flavor won’t be quite as sweet.

FUN FOR THE KIDS!

This recipe appeals to kids (toddlers to preteens) because of the bright colors, strong sweet flavors and easy techniques that they can join in on. Put kids in charge of peeling the beets or using the food processor to whip up the dressing. When the yogurt dressing is poured over the cooked beets, it will turn bright pink! For an extra fun craft or activity, encourage kids to create a recipe card with this recipe, using their hands or fingers to “stamp” the card with a beet juice print. If you save the skins and beet water, you can also experiment with water coloring, temporarily dying white fabrics or yarn.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb baby beets

• 1/2 lb fresh young spinach

• 2 scallions

• 1/4 c. dried fruit (cherries, golden raisins, or chopped apricots)

• 1/4 c. roughly chopped pistachios

• 1/2 c. greek yogurt

• 1 lemon

• 1 tbsp honey

• 1 bunch dill

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 2 tbsp. olive oil

Preparation

1. Chop the roots and crowns off of the beets and put them into a pot, cover with water and put on the stove to boil for 12-15 min (until the beet is tender when speared with a fork).

2. When you drain the beets, reserve 1/2 cup of the hot beet water. In a small heat-safe bowl, pour the hot water over the dried fruit to soften it. Put the beets in the fridge to cool them down quickly.

3. Roughly chop the dill, and zest and juice the lemon. Put into a food processor or small blender with the greek yogurt, honey salt, and olive oil. Blend until smooth.

4. Slice up the scallions.

5. Once beets are cool enough to handle comfortably, simply slide the skin off with your thumbs. 

6. Wash the spinach and toss into a bowl. Top with the peeled beets, dressing, rehydrated fruit and chopped pistachios and serve!