Who said that dinner has to be an ordeal? Multiple courses are for teensy people with lots of time and gravy boats. Sometimes it’s all about quick and fabulous—a small perfect something that nourishes body, mind and spirited taste buds.

Now more than ever, there are tons of ready-made gourmet goodies winking from ordinary supermarket shelves. Four such items comprise this beguiling, pantry-savvy salad. Ready-cooked beets, a hassle to roast and peel (and not optimal canned), are now available in vacuum-sealed packets in most produce departments. Fresh, firm, earthy and sweet, we love them tossed with fire-roasted red bell peppers and crumbled Gorgonzola. A dark, gooey drizzle of best-quality aged balsamic makes this winter salad sing in, what, two tantalizing minutes?

Beet and Roasted Red Pepper Salad

Serves 4

4 whole fire-roasted red bell peppers, preferably packed in oil, halved

8 beets, thinly sliced

1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

Best-quality aged balsamic vinegar, to taste

Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Fresh basil, to garnish

Divide the peppers onto four plates, scattering about 2 sliced beets per plate with 1/4 cup of the Gorgonzola. Drizzle to taste with balsamic, adding freshly cracked black pepper and fresh basil leaves, to garnish.