Macheesmo

Happy Labor, everyone! Today I wanted to share with you one of my favorite salads. I call it, simply, my Fall Crunch Salad, and it’s a perfect welcome to the changing seasons.

There’s lots that I love about this salad. Even though some of the ingredients have long prep times (cooking wheat berries and roasting beets), they are easy to make and can be cooked in advance of the salad.

The salad is obviously a great side salad, but you can make a meal out of it as well thanks to the wheat berries. I even topped my version with a poached egg for a nice brunch dish.

Fall is undoubtedly my favorite season of the year and this might just be my favorite salad of the year as well!

Fall Crunch Salad

by Nick

Serves:

Serves 4-6

Prep Time:

10 mins

Total Time:

1 hr

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This is the kind of salad I love this time of year. It’s hearty, has loads of great crunchy veggies and fruits.

Ingredients

5 oz. baby spinach

2 golden beets, roasted

2 cups cooked wheat berries

1 cup walnuts

4 oz. goat cheese

2 apples, peeled and chopped

Quick Apple Cider Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup neutral oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Dash of hot sauce

Instructions

1) Cut root ends off of beets and slice them in half. Place them on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until they are tender, but still have a slight crunch to them. Let the beets cool slightly, then peel and chop.

2) Simmer wheat berries in simmering water until they are tender, about 45 minutes. Then drain wheat berries.

3) For dressing, whisk together ingredients until combined.

4) Make salad by topping baby spinach with chopped roasted beets, walnuts, apples, cooked wheat berries, crumbled goat cheese, and serve the dressing on the side.

Fall Crunch Salad

Let’s get the “hard” stuff out of the way. Cooking the wheat berries is easy, but it does take about 45 minutes of simmering until they are tender. The good news is that it’s pretty hard to overcook them so just simmer them when you have the time.

Leftover wheat berries also freeze really well so you can make more than you need and store them for later!

I wanted a light dressing for this salad and landed on a quick apple cider vinaigrette that takes approximately 30 seconds to whisk together. So easy and screams fall!

Other stuff you’ll need: walnuts, apples, goat cheese, and a few roasted golden beets. I like to slice my beets in half so they roast faster. I roasted mine for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. They were mostly tender at that point, but still have a little crunch in the center, which is perfect!

You probably know the story from here. Toss some baby lettuce/spinach in a big bowl and add in the wheat berries, beets, apples, and goat cheese.

I like to serve the dressing on the side so the greens don’t get soggy.

If you want to take it to the next level, poach an egg and toss that on top.

This fall crunch salad is incredibly flexible. Make it. Love it.