Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Chese and Pistachios

Let's see...  What is there to say about our newest take on beet salad?  We are still in our vegetarian kick, so I wanted to do a hearty salad for dinner with some stracchiatella soup and beet salad sounded like the perfect option.  The funny thing is that we made almost this exact meal (with a slightly different beet salad and homemade chicken stock on the blog almost two years ago).  And in a lot of ways, I preferred that meal - particularly the sweet and spicy candied pecans, the homemade chicken stock for the soup.  I was expecting more sweetness from the roasted beets here, but once I tossed them with the dressing all of that wonderful beet sweetness was obscured.  Granted, grocery store beets in the middle of winter are never quite as sweet as beets are when they are in season, but I tasted the roasted beets before and after adding the dressing so I can definitively say that the dressing definitely masked some of their natural sweetness.  I think beets go wonderfully with goat cheese and this salad was no exception.  The pistachios were an interesting touch as well.  I love roasted salted pepitas with beet salad and candied walnuts or pecans, but I have never tried pistachios.  They are a milder, slightly sweeter alternative, but I might go back to the candied nuts or pepitas. 

Recipe after the jump!

Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Pistachios

INGREDIENTS:
2 (extra) large red beets
2 tbsp minced shallot
1 tablespoons fresh Meyer lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp evoo, plus 1 tsp
2 oz soft mild goat cheese
3 tablespoons salted shelled pistachios (not dyed red), coarsely chopped
3 cups mesclun greens

sea salt

Preheat oven to to 400 degrees F.  Clean beats and dry.  Drizzle beets with 1 tsp evoo and season lightly with s&p.  Wrap beets individually tightly in foil.  Roast until tender, about 90 minutes.  Remove beets from oven and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, whisk together shallot, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, then add oil in a stream, whisking.

Peel the beet and cut into 1/2-cm cubes.  Toss beets with dressing. 

  

Toss mesclun with beets.  Top with crumbled goat cheese and pistachios.  Top with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve.