Roasted Beet and Peach Salad
by Lidia Bastianich on Nov 20, 2025
Lidia hosts a celebratory meal for the volunteers featured in her special Lidia Celebrates America: A Nation of Neighbors. She invites influencer Kiki Ruff and No Res Gourmet founder Firas Ayyad to help her prepare this Roasted Beet and Peach Salad recipe for the meal. “This is a great salad,” Lidia says. “No waste of food. You use the beet, the stem and the leaves, everything goes in the salad and it's delicious. And in the wintertime you can substitute the apples instead of the peaches. You can use whatever is in season.”
- Servings
- 6
- Course
- Salad
Tags
Ingredients
- 10-12 small yellow and red beets with greens attached (about 3 pounds total)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin oil
- 1/3 cup good quality balsamic vinegar
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 3-4 peaches (peeled)
- 4 ounces or so slightly aged goat cheese
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Slice the greens off leaving a tiny bit of stem on top of the beets, then scrub the beets and poke each of them with a fork a few times.
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Put them all in a shallow baking dish, uncovered, with an 1/8 inch of water covering the bottom. roast the beets— the water will actually steam them a bit first— until they are shriveled, dark, and caramelized outside, and tender all the way through (when poked with a knife)—45 minutes to 1½ hours, depending on size. Let them cool completely.
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Rinse the beet greens well, trimming off the tough parts of the stems, and cut the softer stem pieces from the leaves. Bring a big pan of water to the boil, then drop in the stems and cook for about 10 minutes; now add the greens. Cook for 20 minutes more, or until the stems are quite soft. Drain in a sieve; sprinkle ¼ teaspoon salt over the hot greens, and let them cool.
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Peel the cooled beets, removing all the skin, the stem base, and the root tip, exposing the gleaming flesh. Cut in wedges, and place in a big mixing bowl. Cut the greens (both leaves and stems) into 2- inch lengths, and toss with the beet wedges.
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Whisk together the oil and vinegar, with the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and some grinds of pepper. drizzle the dressing over the beets, and toss to combine. Peel the peaches and slice. Arrange the dressed beets on a serving platter or portion them on salad plates; fold in the peach slices, then crumble goat cheese on top just before serving.
