Healthy beetroot pear salad

This healthy beetroot pear salad really is a homerun! Everybody will love it! Because it is so light and so healthy. And moreover it is so very easy to make! The secret is in the heavenly combination of pear and beetroot. Not the most obvious food-pairing, but they fit perfectly to each other. So this is the perfect starter for autumn and winter. It is also a good contrast to the heavier and more hearty meals you often have in this period. You will read every important detail to make this delicious starter further down in the article. But let us start with the recipe card.

How to make this healthy beetroot pear starter?

Pears and beetroots are obviously the protagonists in this healthy starter recipe. Maybe not the most obvious food-pairing, but you should really try this delicious duo together. And you only have to add some feta, salad and roasted pine nuts to complete the plate. Easy, surprising and easily digestible.

The preparations

Preparation is half of the work, they say. But in this case I would even up the percentage to eighty percent. After finishing the preparation you only have to arrange the ingredients on the plate.

We peel the pears and cut them into quarters. Then we cut slices lengthwise. I always use ripe conference pears. Conference is my favorite among pears anyway. And ripe (but not over ripe) because the sweet taste harmonizes wonderfully with the beetroot. You may have to buy the pears a few days in advance if they are still hard.

For convenience I use in pre-cooked and packaged beetroot. If you use beetroot from your garden, or buy fresh beetroot, you must first cook it. It may be well cooked. First we halve them and then they have to be cut into small cubes. I call that three-dimensional cutting: horizontal, vertical in length, vertical in width. This way you have nice little square blocks without much effort.

We also cut the feta into approximately the same size cubes as the beetroot using the same procedure.

For the pine nuts we have to to heat a pan. Without adding anything, we let them roast in the pan until they turn a little brown and start to smell. Then take them out of the pan and set them aside.

For the salad you can choose between lamb's lettuce, arugula or a mixture of different salads. Rather the types with the smaller leaves. The dressing is also simple, with equal amounts of olive oil, white wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar. Another turn of the pepper mill if necessary.

How to arrange the healthy beetroot pear salad on the plates?

Now that we have finished all the preparations, we can start arranging the ingredients on the plates. Of course, you may and should use your own inspiration and creativity. But I must admit that I am quite happy with the way I did it here. As this is not my special talent, I feel quite proud of it in this case.

I start by arranging the pear slices on the plates. Then a tuft of the salad follows in the middle on top of the pears. After that, I arrange a ring of beetroot and feta around the salad. This is great, both in taste and color.

And already only some finishing touches are left. First of all, I drizzle the salad with the dressing to give it extra flavor. Then I top the salad with some roasted pine nuts. Finally, you can give another twist to the pepper mill. The last step is then serving and enjoying it with your company.

More surprising.starter

I know now already that this healthy beetroot pear salad will be one of my favorites for autumn and winter for quite some time. With reason! But there are also other seasons, and other delicious starters that you really should try:

• Hot smoked salmon with cucumber and apple.
• Smoked mackerel on a leek stew.
• Fresh fig carpaccio.
• Delicious summer smoked mackerel salad.
• Quail eggs tonnato.

More surprising.pear

I love pears, and they can be perfectly used in different types of recipes. You may find some inspiration in the following recipes:

• Biscoff pear pie.
• Chardonnay poached Christmas pears.

If you speak Dutch, you can find the Dutch version of this recipe on gerechtenweb.blog.