Festive Strawberry and Golden Beet Salad

Holidays call for a dish that looks and tastes like celebration, and this salad delivers that without any special planning. It is bright enough to sit beside anyone's celebration plate, built entirely from foods the elimination phase already welcomes. Bring it, serve it, and enjoy the evening.

The plate earns its place nutritionally too. Golden beets are a source of folate and the colorful greens bring polyphenols, the plant compounds that come along with eating across a real spread of color. The vinaigrette is the quiet trick here: whole strawberries blended into the dressing, so the sweetness is the fruit itself and there is no added sugar, which is exactly the kind of swap that makes a celebration salad work on this protocol.

Let it be beautiful. Layer it on a platter rather than tossing it in a bowl. There is something steadying about making the careful thing also the lovely thing, especially at a holiday gathering.

Ingredients

Salad:

• 4 cups mixed greens
• 1 cup cooked golden beets, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup sliced cucumber
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 3 scallions, chopped

Vinaigrette:

• 1 cup quartered strawberries
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Method

Make the vinaigrette first. Blend the quartered strawberries, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, and salt for about 20 seconds, until smooth. Chill it while you build the salad.

If your golden beets are not already cooked, roast or simmer them until tender, about 35 minutes, then peel and chop them and let them cool.

Layer the mixed greens across a platter. Top with the chopped beets, sliced cucumber, sliced strawberries, and scallions.

Drizzle the strawberry vinaigrette over the top just before serving. If you are making this ahead, keep the components and the dressing separate until the last minute; the blended dressing holds in the refrigerator for up to a week.

*Adapted from asquirrelinthekitchen.com*