Spinach and Rocket Salad with Orange, Carrot and Raw Beetroot

Categories : appetizers & savoury snacks, easy peasy, lent, potatoes & vegetables, Recipes, soups & salads, vegetarian or vegan

A colourful, pretty salad packed with fresh, tangy, slightly sweet and earthy flavours. Spinach, rocket (arugula), orange, spiralized carrots and raw beetroot, are paired with almonds, cranberries and a delicious orange dressing.

Spinach and Rocket Salad with Orange, Carrot and Raw Beetroot www.thefoodiecorner.gr Photo description: A side view of the large glass bowl of salad, with the contents visible. Flat against the side of the bowl are some star shaped slices of orange and some spirals of carrot. To the left of the bowl is a small bottle of dressing. In the background the small pot of spearmint, some trees and grass.

Is it getting warmer where you are? If it is, maybe you’re starting to crave refreshing food like salads. Especially ones with a slight tang, and a slight sweetness too. This past winter I realized just how much I love orange in my salads. We have an orange tree in the garden and usually I have more oranges than I know what to do with. So I made lots of dressings with their juice, and also put slices into bowls of leafy greens for that surprise burst of sweetness. I actually think they go more with savoury dishes than they do with sweets! Ok, unless we’re talking about this cake.

Spinach and Rocket Salad with Orange, Carrot and Raw Beetroot www.thefoodiecorner.gr Photo description: An overhead view of the salad with the orange slices and spiralized veggies.

Anyway, this salad. It’s the second recipe out of three I created for the Easter issue of a Greek food magazine. You already saw the lemon curd and mascarpone cheesecake (right?) and there is a third to come! Yes, you guessed it, it’s for that gorgeous pink stuff in the jug, as seen in the cheesecake post photos. I won’t say what it is, you’ll have to wait!

So the salad has a base of spinach and rocket (arugula), which is one of my favourite combos. I got a large carrot and a large beetroot, popped them through the spiralizer to transform them into these pretty spirals, and cut an orange or two to create star shaped slices. I threw in some almonds and cranberries, some spearmint, and whipped up a delish orange juice dressing with olive oil, vinegar and mustard.

Spinach and Rocket Salad with Orange, Carrot and Raw Beetroot www.thefoodiecorner.gr Photo description: To the left, half visible, is a basket with some muslin materials and a bunch of wild yellow flowers haning out. Behind that a wooden chair placed next to a table (not visible), with a linen napkin hanging over the x shaped metal table legs. Everything is outdoors, on the grass.

The resulting salad is earthy, a little sweet, a little tangy and very tasty. Just right for spring; but you know what? I can see this as part of a Christmas spread too. It’s so colourful and pretty that it would be a great addition to any festive table.

Spinach and Rocket Salad with Orange, Carrot and Raw Beetroot www.thefoodiecorner.gr Photo description: A side view of the table from a little further away. In the background some olive trees, very tall wild yellow flowers and lots of long lush grass.

Guys, if you try any of my recipes I would love to see them! Tag me or use #thefoodiecorner hashtag so I can find them. Over to the recipe…

Ingredients

100gr baby spinach

80-90gr rocket (arugula)

1 carrot, large, spiralized

1 beetroot, large, spiralized

2-3 oranges, peeled and cut crosswise into round slices

50gr cranberries, dried

50gr almonds, roughly chopped

spearmint, finely chopped, to taste + extra leaves to garnish

For the dressing

90ml orange juice, freshly squeezed

60ml olive oil

30ml (2 Tbs) white wine vinegar

1 tsp mustard, mild

1 tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper, freshly ground

Step 1

In a large salad bowl combine the spinach, rocket and carrot spirals. Use as much of the beetroot as you fancy and keep the rest in the fridge for another day (there will be a lot from the one beetroot but you need it to be large to spiralize it).

Step 2

Add the orange slices (place some against the sides of the glass bowl for decoration if desired) and sprinkle the almonds, cranberries and spearmint onto the salad.

Step 3

Add all the dressing ingredients to a clean jam jar, close the lid and shake well to incorporate. Toss the salad with as much dressing as you want and keep the rest in the fridge. It will be fine for a couple of days.