Roasted Carrot, Beet, and Baked Feta Salad
Earthy beets, sweet carrots, and tangy feta are always a fool proof combination. Here, we’ve given the feta a simple marinade for extra deliciousness and added lentils and spinach to make it a more substantial, standalone dish. The roasting takes a little time, but the prep is so simple that you can get on with other jobs (or pop your feet up for half an hour!).
Ingredients
200g feta
4 Tbsp olive oil
2 oranges
A pinch chilli flakes
2 Tbsp thyme leaves
500g baby carrots, scrubbed and trimmed
500g baby beetroot, scrubbed and trimmed
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tin lentils, drained and rinsed
120g bag baby spinach, rinsed
Method
Preheat the oven 220°C.
In a small, oven-proof dish, marinate the feta in 2 tablespoons olive oil, the zest of 1 orange, the chilli flakes and 1 teaspoon of the thyme. Set aside.
Cut any large carrots in half lengthwise and cut the beetroot into wedges. In a large, lipped baking tray, toss the carrots and beets with the remaining oil and thyme, and the balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper, add ½ cup water, cover the tray with foil and bake for 50 minutes.
While the vegetables cook, cut the oranges into segments, reserving any orange juice, and set aside. After 50 minutes, remove the foil, add the lentils, and top with the rinsed spinach, leaving a little water on the leaves to help them steam. Return to the oven, along with the feta dish, and bake for 10 minutes.
Stir the vegetables to combine and transfer them onto a serving platter. Scatter over the orange segments and their juice. Break the feta into chunks and place them onto the salad, then drizzle over any remaining oil. Serve immediately.