Tasty Tuesday - Roasted Vegetable Salad

I already mentioned the dinner party where we served the Lentil Wellington a couple weeks ago.  We started out that meal with a roasted vegetable salad that was also delicious so I thought I'd go ahead and share that recipe :)

1 bunch beets

1 bunch carrots

1 bunch swiss chard

1/4 cup Pine nuts

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tbsp mustard (I used regular mustard but honey mustard would be good too)

1 tbsp cider vinegar 

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Preheat oven to 425 and put on a pot of water (large enough to fit the carrots) to boil.  

Peel the carrots and place them in the boiling water for 2 minutes, then set aside to cool. Add the beets to the same water and boil for 8 - 10 minutes, depending on the size.  Run the beets under cold water until they're cool enough to handle so that you can peel them.

Halve the carrots and cut the peeled beets into quarters or sixths, again depending on the size. Arrange them on a baking sheet (keep some space between the carrots and beets so the colors stay separate), drizzle with 1 – 2 teaspoons olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast for 15 – 20 minutes, flipping the vegetables halfway through.

Once they're done, put the chard on the baking sheet (clean the baking sheet in between or use a separate baking sheet), drizzle with a little olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 5 minutes, or just until the leaves have wilted a bit.  I served the chard leaves whole for presentation, but if I did it again I would cut up the leaves into bite size pieces.  It looked pretty but was too hard to eat this way.

While the chard is baking, put the pine nuts on the stove to toast in a dry pan over medium high heat.  Keep an eye on the as they will toast quickly.  You want them to be golden and you should take them off the heat as soon as you can smell them.

I layered the salad with the chard on the bottom, the carrots on top of the chard in the middle, and the beets around the carrots so you could see all the veggies. I sprinkled the pine nuts over top of the veggies.  

And then the dressing... I don't have a specific recipe for the dressing as I kind of make vinaigrettes by taste.  I used a small Tupperware with a lid and put in the juice of one lemon.  I added a spoon of mustard and some cider vinegar, salt, and pepper.  I added an equal amount of olive oil to the liquid that was already in there.  I then placed the lid on securely and shook until the vinaigrette was mixed.  Taste and add more oil, salt, pepper, or vinegar as needed based on your taste.  Pour over the salad right before serving and voila! A delicious and beautiful first course.

I'm linking up with Lean Lena for Tasty Tuesday and will be linking up with Deborah andTina for Meatless Mondays