Enough with chocolates and candy – here’s a beautiful pink and red salad you can serve to your family for a Valentine holiday meal. This Valentine Salad Recipe from Glory Kitchen mixes all types of pretty veggies and tosses them together with a variety of white tender beans – cannellini and garbanzos.
Although I do love the sweet treats on Valentine’s Day, it’s not often you get the gift of a pretty pink and red bean salad.
The ingredients are quite basic and by using canned cannellini and garbanzo beans, this salad can be thrown together in no time at all. Although I did roast the beets myself for this meal, most grocery stores carry pre-roasted beets in the produce department (they are typically stocked near the fresh mushrooms, fresh peas, and other small packaged specialty vegetables).
Not only can you bypass the roasting process, they are already peeled and ready to slice – how easy is that? I often buy them pre-cooked and they are quite tasty – this also make beets readily accessible when you don’t have an extra hour to go through the roasting process. Not to mention, they are pretty messy to peel and stain both hands and cutting boards.
Although I used parmesan cheese in this particular salad, I think a salty feta would be a wonderful flavor addition as well. And finally, our Glory Kitchen Umbria nut & spice mix gives this salad some added Italian flavored crunch with chopped almonds and the herbal flavors of rosemary, basil and thyme. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Whisk together the dressing ingredients and set aside. To roast the beets, place them in aluminum foil and drizzle them with olive oil. Using your hands, rub the oil all around the flesh. Sprinkle them with sea salt, wrap the foil tightly around the beets and place in a 400° oven until they are fork tender. This may take 30-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. As a side note, I have found pre-roasted beets before at Trader Joe's. This certainly makes a wonderful short cut.
Once the beets are cooled, peel them carefully using a small paring knife, cut them into cubes and toss them into the dressing. Allow these to marinate for a while you begin chopping the veggies.
Rinse both cans of cannellini beans and garbanzos and rinse them well. Slice the radishes very thin. I like to use a mandolin to get even slices, however, if you don't have one, just use your knife skills and slice them evenly 🙂
Shred the radicchio into very thin slices. Thinly slice the red pepper.
Using a large bowl, toss together the beans, radicchio lettuce, radishes and red pepper. Gently toss in the beets and do not over mix because the beets will bleed quickly onto the rest of the salad. Some of the juices mixing together can be pretty because the beans will turn pink as the beet juices bleed over the salad, however, too much mixing might overdo it. Taste the salad to see if the beet dressing is enough flavoring for the salad. Add more olive oil, wine vinegar and salt if it needs more seasoning. To top off the salad, add thick slices of fresh parmesan cheese or for a salty twist, use white feta cheese crumbles. Garnish the salad with a generous sprinkle of Umbria nut & spice mix and fresh parsley. Enjoy!
VALENTINE SALAD
Enough with chocolates and candy – here’s a beautiful pink and red salad you can serve to your family for a Valentine holiday meal. This Valentine Salad Recipe from Glory Kitchen mixes all types of pretty veggies and tosses them together with a variety of white tender beans – cannellini and garbanzos.
Although I do love the sweet treats on Valentine’s Day, it’s not often you get the gift of a pretty pink and red bean salad.
The ingredients are quite basic and by using canned cannellini and garbanzo beans, this salad can be thrown together in no time at all. Although I did roast the beets myself for this meal, most grocery stores carry pre-roasted beets in the produce department (they are typically stocked near the fresh mushrooms, fresh peas, and other small packaged specialty vegetables).
Not only can you bypass the roasting process, they are already peeled and ready to slice – how easy is that? I often buy them pre-cooked and they are quite tasty – this also make beets readily accessible when you don’t have an extra hour to go through the roasting process. Not to mention, they are pretty messy to peel and stain both hands and cutting boards.
Although I used parmesan cheese in this particular salad, I think a salty feta would be a wonderful flavor addition as well. And finally, our Glory Kitchen Umbria nut & spice mix gives this salad some added Italian flavored crunch with chopped almonds and the herbal flavors of rosemary, basil and thyme. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Margie Bruner
owner of Glory Kitchen
instagram
facebook
makes 3-4 servings
Ingredients
Instructions