Don't That Beet All

So, I have a confession to make that might annoy some of you.  I'm going to whisper it in the hopes that you'll hear me out.

I hate beets.

As in, I really loathe the things.  I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to fruits and vegetables; I've even trained myself to like Brussels sprouts.  But, let's be real here, blog world.  Beets taste like dirt.  And no one likes to eat dirt.  Not to mention, they stain everything, they have no pleasing aroma, and I can cook a myriad of other vegetables in far less time.  What's to like?  Seriously.

However, in the spirit of embarking on adventures in my life, I gave them another shot; after all, there was the Brussels sprouts turnaround.  I scoured a multitude of resources trying to find the one recipe that would alter the course of my beet history; eventually I landed on the one I'm going to present below.  Yes, it involved roasting the beets, which seemed rather time intensive, but then all I had to do was throw them in a salad, and that seemed easy enough.  Maybe this could work out after all...

Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

First, I roasted a pound of beets in the oven.  I double-wrapped the (well-cleaned) beets in foil, sprinkled them with salt, added some fresh thyme, and roasted them at 425°F for a little over an hour.  If you're using smaller beets than I did, you may get away with 45 minutes or so, but mine were larger and needed the extra time.

This foil party had sick beets.

While the beets were roasting, I toasted some walnuts in a cast iron skillet over medium heat for a few minutes until they were fragrant.

Posting a picture of something this easy seems nuts.

I then tossed some mixed greens in a glass bowl and began work on my vinaigrette.  It's a pretty basic recipe.  I started with 1/4 c. white wine vinegar, added .5 tsp. of the Vermont Maple mustard I'm so fond of (although Dijon would work fine), as well as .5 tsp. salt, and the zest and juice of half an orange.  Mix these well, then whisk the ingredients together while streaming in half a cup of olive oil.  Voila, vinaigrette.

Bowl of lettuce.  (Now this is art, people.)

Zesty.

Once the beets were done roasting (a knife will slide all the way through them easily when they're ready), I opened the foil packet, drained off the liquid, and let them cool slightly before trying to peel away the skins.  When they're still warm, this is pretty easy to do, although they didn't peel off effortlessly like the Internet makes it sound they will.  I did have to use a paring knife to clean them up a bit afterward.  Once they were peeled, I sliced them thinly into rounds, into then halved the rounds to make crescent moon shaped beet slices.  Then, I cut up an apple similarly to give the salad some brightness.

Roasted beets.

 

Sliced apple.

At this point, it was just a matter of dumping everything over the lettuce, giving it a good toss, and crumbling some goat cheese on top.  Easy enough.

Salad before the cheese.

 

Salad with the cheese.

So, the real question is, did this make me like beets?  

Nope.  Not at all.  Not even a little.

I didn't pick them out, mind you, but they still tasted vaguely like dirt, and goat cheese is truly enough earthiness for me.  So, now I'm throwing it out to all of you.  Make me like beets.  Truly, I want to.  Comment, leave me a recipe, tell me what I'm doing wrong.  I'm open to ideas.

-John