I normally wouldn’t bother to write about a side salad. But this was quite possibly the most sublime salad I’ve had in a good long while.

For dinner, we had some manicotti that my mother-in-law had brought over for us. A pint of tomato sauce in the fridge meant essentially a no-cook night for me, and I figured a salad would be a good accompaniment. I had on hand some roasted beets, a package of mixed baby greens, and my pantry staples — olive oil and a very good balsamic vinegar.

So the salad was composed thusly: I tossed the greens with some olive oil and vinegar and divided it onto a couple of salad plates. On top of that, cubed roasted beets that had been lightly dressed with the same olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkled a few pine nuts on top, and the real kicker — I sprinkled this very lightly with some fleur de sel.

Like I said — best. Salad. Ever.

For the roasted beets:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Trim the ends of the beets and wash them well. Put them on a piece of foil large enough to enclose them. Drizzle them with a bit of olive oil, and bake them for 45 minutes to an hour depending on size. When they’re cool enough to handle, peel the skin off them and cut them into cubes. These can be dressed with a vinaigrette. They taste like the earth — dark, substantive, and mysterious. They are beautiful.