Beet, Endive, Grapefruit & Blue Cheese Salad

I'm really glad I saved some recipes and photographs from last week, because I haven't really cooked much this week at all: making a sandwich and microwaving frozen Brussels Sprouts doesn't count as cooking in my book.

Here is a recipe I came up with for Beet, Endive, Grapefruit & Blue Cheese Salad. It is similar to the Beet, Orange and Blue Cheese Salad I've made in the past, but has an additional fresh and slightly bitter flavor of an endive. I decided to make this a composed salad instead of mixing all ingredients together because beets tend to color everything making the presentation less than pleasing. And a lot of you loved this black plate when I used it to display pot stickers, so here it is again.

I had this salad for dinner last week before going dancing, but you can serve it as an appetizer or first course at your next party. Just make sure to put it together the last minute (although you can have everything cut up and the dressing made and kept separately in the refrigerator for a few hours). The amounts below serve one hungry girl.



Ingredients
1 endive, bottom removed, separated into individual leaves ("boats")
2 beets, roasted, peeled and cubed (to roast beets, wash them and then wrap in aluminum foil and put them in a 450F preheated oven for 30-60 minutes depending on their size)
1 grapefruit, segmented, juice retained
2 ounces blue cheese, cut into wedges
1 teaspoon raspberry vinegar
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon grapefruit juice
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
1. On a plate set endive "boats," top them with a grapefruit segment and a tablespoon of cubed beets.
2. Whisk together raspberry vinegar, olive oil, grapefruit juice and season with salt & pepper to taste.
3. Drizzle the dressing over the grapefruit and beets and top your creation with a wedge of blue cheese.
4. Eat immediately (or at least as soon as you take the photograph!).