Roasted Beet Salad

So, I have to preface this by saying that I love beets. After living in Ukraine for 2 years, I decided they are an underappreciated vegetable here. I think that's changing, because I've seen more and more recipes with them over the last couple of years. Anyway, the other day a friend of mine brought a salad to class with walnuts and apples and feta cheese on it, and it made me think I wanted something similar for dinner, so I made up this salad. And it was fab. I made a big one as a dinner main dish, but you could use the same amount of ingredients for 2 or 3 smaller salads.

Baby spinach
2-3 roasted beets (recipe below), sliced
1/2 apple, sliced
Walnuts
Feta cheese
Dried cranberries
Olive oil & balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper to taste for dressing

It's a salad, so, you know, toss everything together, add some salt and pepper to taste, and there you go. It was really good when the beets were still warm and made the cheese a bit melty. I think it'd be nice with some red onion, too.

Here's how to roast beets (it's a great all-purpose recipe; I often do this and just eat them as a side dish, or you can add them to other things, like risotto, etc.):

Beets (as many as you want - I usually do 4 or so)
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Sea salt

Cut off the tops and root ends of the beets. If they came with the greens still attached, save those and cook them separately. (They're great sauteed with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic.) You can either peel the beets now, or wait until after they're roasted and cooled a little, at which point the skins will slip off. It just depends on how much you want them to retain the flavor of the oil, vinegar and salt. Place the beets on some foil on a baking sheet, sprinkle some olive oil, balsamic and sea salt on them, and then close the foil around them to form a little packet. Roast at 350-400 degrees for about an hour, until a fork can easily pierce the beets. If you have baby beets, or have cut them into smaller pieces, it'll take less time.