Beet, Apple & Radicchio Salad with Brie, Walnuts & Citrus Vinaigrette

Beet, Apple & Radicchio Salad from Roberts Ranch Vineyards

Serves 6

For our March French Worker’s Lunch and Wine & Vine Walk, we celebrated the best of the root cellar and later winter harvest vegetables! This salad was a delicious surprise with hints of the Spring season to come. The beet, apple, walnut and Brie cheese components made it a lovely match with our Roberts Ranch Chardonnay 2024 - which incidentally, we were celebrating - with a “94” rating from UK’s Decanter Magazine! Hope you can grab yourself a bottle from your cellar or ours to enjoy with this fresh and lively salad.

Ingredients

1 apple - Honeycrisp, or similar, thinly sliced

1 beet peeled and thinly sliced

2 radicchio heads, washed and leaved (slice leaves in half if too large)

2 small green butter lettuce heads, washed and leaved

¼ head red cabbage - thinly sliced

½ small head sweet green cabbage - thinly sliced

½ red onion very thinly sliced (place slices into ½ c of dressing to marinate 1 hour to overnight)

½ cup raw walnut halves - lightly toast on dry fry pan and sprinkle with salt

½ lb good quality Brie cheese sliced thinly into triangles

½ cup pomegranate arils for garnish

¼ cup of borage flowers for garnish

Citrus Dressing: (with thanks to Ben Spungin from Alta Bakery and Cafe)

To make the vinaigrette

Whisk all ingredients together except for the Olive oil, salt and pepper. Add oil in a stream while whisking quickly to emulsify the dressing. Add the salt and pepper and taste to check for balance of seasoning, acidity and sweetness.

1 cup orange juice - fresh squeezed if possible

1/3 c. Apple cider vinegar

1/3 c. Balsamic vinegar

2 T. Maple syrup

2 T Dijon mustard

1 T. Shallots - minced

1 t. Garlic, minced

¾ c. Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

To make the salad

Prepare all ingredients for the salad. On a large serving platter or low bowl, start with a bed of the green butter lettuce and tuck the radicchio pieces in amongst the green leaves. Repeat with the two colors of cabbage and then the thin beet and apple slices to make a balanced presentation. Drain and separate the marinated onions and sprinkle over the salad. Dress the salad with the Citrus Vinaigrette to your liking. Finish with the walnuts, pomegranate arils and finally tuck in the Brie cheese triangles. Add fresh ground pepper to the top and sprinkle with the borage flowers. Enjoy with a 2024 Roberts Ranch Vineyards Chardonnay.

And don’t forget to join us for the April 18th French Worker’s Lunch - the menu is now published on the event page and we’ll be discussing our Babydoll Sheep program at the Ranch that day - so its sure to be a memorable time!

Choose a nice platter for your salad to bring to table.

With thanks to Kim, and our other servers at Roberts Ranch!