Best Beet Salad

Clearly there's more to this salad than just beets, but I needed a good name.  It didn't really have one before.  This has got to be in my top 5, if not top 1, favorite salads of all time.  What makes it so good is all the flavors that are going on - savory, salty, sweet, and tangy.  Plus it's great for using up leftover roast beef, or steak (if you have any that is)!

Vary ingredients to your taste:
Beef - either roast or steak, preferably grilled, sliced up.  Ground is not recommended.
Beets - chopped in 1/2" pieces, salted, oven roasted for 20 minutes at 425.
Onions - sliced, sauteed in olive oil til caramelized - Vidalia are best (the sweeter the better)
Arugula
Balsamic vinegar

I prefer a large amount of caramelized onions in my salad bowl, along with a heavy handed pour of balsamic.  The arugula can't be substituted - it lends a peppery bite that reduces your need for seasonings.  And this really is much better when the steak (or roast) is grilled beforehand, and the beets are roasted to a caramelly goodness.  I could eat this every day!

Option:  Throw the beets with some butter or grapeseed oil in heavy-duty foil, seal up, and throw on the grill while the steaks are cooking.  Depending on the heat of the grill they may need a lot more time for roasting than when cooking in the oven.

Steak & Beet Salad

If there was a heaven, this would be on its menu year-round. This is perfection on a plate. Of course, you must love beets to agree with me here.
I don't recall ever being made to try beets as a kid, in fact my earliest memory of eating beets was when I was around 21. There was a diet circling around (pre-interwebs, mid 90s), that was called something like the "OHSU Diet". It involved 3 days' worth of meals, and if you followed it exactly to the letter it promised weight loss of at least 10 lbs in those three days. (Of course it didn't work.) Anyway, one of the meals involved eating canned beets dressed with red wine vinegar. Surprisingly I was not grossed out.
I can almost guarantee that even non-beet eaters will not be grossed out by this salad:

1-2 lbs round steak
2 large beets, with greens, washed
Salted butter
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1/2 large red onion
2 handfuls washed arugula
Chevre, Feta, or other goat cheese
Balsamic vinegar (vary quantity to taste)
S&P

Well ahead of the game, scrub and peel the beets, separate greens, wrap beets in foil, and roast at 375 until cooked. These took about 45 minutes.
In the meantime, trim stalks off washed greens and set aside to drain. Prep steaks by trimming fat. Let rest a bit, before pan-frying in olive oil with a good seasoning blend and S&P. Fry til browned on each side and med-rare. Remove from heat and let rest on a plate.
While beets are roasting and steak is resting, thinly slice onion, and mince garlic. Slowly saute onions in butter/olive oil over medium low heat til caramelized (can add a tiny splash of Balsamic at this stage if desired, but I add mine at the end for stronger flavor). Remove beets from oven to cool at this point. Add garlic and beet greens to the caramelized onions, cook over low til greens are barely wilted - just a few minutes. You want the greens to still have a little bite and not turn to mush. Set aside.
Quickly slice both the steak and the beets. Toss with the greens/caramelized onion mixture with a bit of Balsamic, Salt, & Pepper. Place a handful of arugula on each plate, and top with the steak/beet/greens combo. Sprinkle a little cheese around each plate, and enjoy - with a giant glass of something meaty & rich, like a Cab, Malbec, Bordeaux, or Shiraz!