Mâche Salad with Roasted Beets and Walnuts
Mâche — lamb’s lettuce, doucette in Lyon — is one of the great winter salad greens of France: small, velvety, mild, and sweet with a faint nutty undertone. It has a natural affinity for roasted beets and walnuts, a combination that Daniel Boulud has featured throughout his career, from his Lyonnaise roots to his New York restaurants. The walnut oil vinaigrette amplifies the nuttiness of both the mâche and the walnuts while cutting through the sweetness of the beets. This is a salad of deep flavour and beautiful colour, built for autumn and winter.
Ingredients (serves 4)
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Mâche (lamb’s lettuce), washed and dried | 200 g |
| Mixed beets (red, golden, chioggia if available) | 600 g (about 4 medium) |
| Walnut halves | 80 g |
| Chèvre frais (fresh goat’s cheese) or aged Roquefort | 80 g |
| Shallot, very thinly sliced into rings | 1 |
| Fresh thyme | 4 sprigs |
| Olive oil (for roasting beets) | 2 tbsp |
| Walnut Oil Vinaigrette | 5 tbsp |
| Fleur de sel and black pepper | to taste |
| Chives, cut in 1-inch lengths | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Roast the beets: preheat oven to 200°C (400°F). Scrub the beets and place each on a square of aluminium foil with a thyme sprig. Drizzle with olive oil and a pinch of salt, then wrap tightly. Roast for 45–60 minutes until a knife slides through without resistance. Let cool in the foil for 20 minutes, then peel — the skin will slip off easily with a paper towel. (Wear gloves for red beets.) Cut into wedges or ½-inch rounds. If using multiple colours, keep them separate until plating so the red doesn’t bleed onto the golden ones.
- Toast the walnuts: spread on a baking sheet and roast at 175°C (350°F) for 8–10 minutes until fragrant and lightly coloured. Watch them carefully — walnuts go from toasted to burnt quickly. Let cool, then roughly break any large pieces in half.
- Make the walnut oil vinaigrette if not already prepared. Taste and adjust — beets are sweet, so the dressing should lean slightly acidic.
- Marinate the beet slices: toss the warm beets gently in 2 tablespoons of the walnut oil vinaigrette while they are still slightly warm so they absorb the flavour. Season with fleur de sel. Let rest at least 10 minutes.
- To assemble: arrange the mâche loosely across a large platter or divide among plates. Tuck the beet wedges among the leaves. Scatter the toasted walnuts and shallot rings over the top.
- Crumble the chèvre or Roquefort over the salad. (Chèvre gives a milder, creamier finish; Roquefort gives a sharper, more pronounced contrast with the sweet beet.)
- Spoon the remaining vinaigrette over everything. Finish with chives, fleur de sel, and a few grinds of black pepper.
- Serve immediately — mâche wilts quickly once dressed.
Notes
- Roasting beets in foil parcels locks in their natural sweetness. Boiling dilutes the flavour. Do not skip this step.
- Keeping red and golden beets separate until plating preserves the visual drama of the dish — a tangle of gold and crimson on green.
- Mâche is delicate and watery. Dry it thoroughly and dress it at the last moment.
- This salad works beautifully as a first course or alongside pork rillettes and a country terrine.
- Wine pairing: Burgundy Aligoté or a young Sancerre blanc.
- If mâche is unavailable, substitute baby spinach or watercress — both have the tenderness and mild bitterness to work with the beets.
Dressing: Walnut-Oil-Vinaigrette