Prepare a delicious Paleo-friendly salad that features a feathery member of the parsley family, fennel. When it's roasted, fennel's distinctive taste gets tamed, so you're in store for mild hints of the aromatic licorice flavor.
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Yield: 2 servings
4 small beets
1 medium fennel bulb
Zest of half an orange
Juice of half an orange
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 slices bacon
4 to 5 ounces fresh baby spinach
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the beets and fennel on a cookie sheet and roast for 20 to 25 minutes or until tender.
In a small bowl, combine the orange zest, orange juice, mustard, honey, vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and mix well.
Remove the roasted beets and fennel from the oven and remove the peels, which should slip easily off the roasted beets. Chop the beets, thinly slice the fennel, and toss in the remaining olive oil in a medium bowl.
Fry the bacon over medium-low heat until crisp (about 4 minutes). Transfer it to several layers of paper towel to drain, blotting slightly. Chop the bacon into small pieces.
To assemble the salad, lay down a bed of spinach and top with the roasted beets and fennel and the walnuts. Sprinkle with the bacon and drizzle with the orange vinaigrette.
Zest the orange before you cut it for juicing.
Per serving: Calories 564 (From Fat 290); Fat 32g (Saturated 6g); Cholesterol 199mg; Sodium 636mg; Carbohydrate 26g (Dietary Fiber 9g); Protein 44g.
Recipe courtesy Arsy Vartanian, author of Rubies & Radishes
This recipe has been vetted by the team at Whole9 and is considered acceptable for a 30-Day Reset Paleo cleanse.
