Roast Beet Salad with Ash-Coated Goat Cheese

So this beet salad was an amalgamation of a couple of different recipes that Alex found on About.com.  I have to admit that I wasn't thrilled with it for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, the goat cheese we bought was just way too strong.  Its flavor overpowered everything else in the dish.  You literally couldn't taste anything (except the onions).  Alex said that as far as he is concerned, we have made better beet salads and worse beet salads.  In his mind this came in somewhere in the middle.  In mine, it was near the bottom.  As far as I am concerned, the most successful recipes we have made were Roasted Beets with Lebneh and Mint, Co.'s Roasted Beet Salad with Arugula and Pepitas, and Roasted Beets with Cumin and Mint.  I'm not sure exactly where this one would fall, but I'm thinking if it's not the worst, it's among the worst.  Sorry hon - I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one.

Recipe after the jump!

Roast Beet Salad with Ash-Coated Goat Cheese

INGREDIENTS:

5 medium beets (or 3 large beets)

1 tsp regular olive oil

s&p

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup (4 oz) ash-coated goat cheese, crumbled (about 115 g)

4 tbsp chopped walnuts

good quality evoo, for drizzling

2 tbsp fresh mint leaves, cut into long thin strips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Wash and trim the beets.  Drizzle beets with 1 teaspoon olive oil and season with s&p. Individually wrap the beets in foil, and place beets on a baking sheet. Bake until the beets are tender about 45 minutes (or an hour for large beets). Allow to cool.

Meanwhile, mince a clove of garlic and add to a small bowl, along with the red wine vinegar and onions. Place in the bowl, toss and allow to steep for at least five minutes.

When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel them. Rub beets with a clean paper towel and the skins should slip off easily. Slice the beets as thinly as you can manage. Arrange the beet slices in an overlapping pattern (roof tile-style) on a serving plate or on 4 individual plates.

Arrange the onion rings on top and scatter with the chèvre and walnuts. Drizzle with evoo and sprinkle some more of the red wine vinegar steeping liquid over the salad. Season to taste. Now sprinkle with the shredded mint leaves and serve immediately.