Roasted Beet & Goat Cheese Salad

Beets! Have you ever thought of roasting them? Have you ever had them with goat cheese or in a salad? Now add nice a nice crisp apple and you have a great salad!

As I was looking through my Waldorf-Astoria cookbook I found this roasted beet and goat cheese timbales with apples and walnut vinaigrette salad.

For the Walnut Dressing:

1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup walnut oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

For The Salad:

3 large red beets, about 1 1/2 pounds, peeled and cut into 3/8 inch dice
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon sliced fresh chives
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
4 ounces aged goat cheese, crumbled and divided into 8 portions
1 cup frisee
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

To prepare the dressing combine the vinegar and mustard in a nonreactive mixing bowl and while continuously whisking, slowly pour in the vegetable oil and walnut oil. Still whisking, add the sugar until it dissolves and is thoroughly combined. Season with salt and pepper. NOTE: I put all in ingredients in a jar and shook.

To prepare the salad toss the beets in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the beets on a well oiled cookie sheet and transfer to the oven. Roast until the beets are soft but not mushy. About 12-15 minutes. When done, let them cool.

Cut one of the peeled apples into 3/8 inch cubes and plce in a nonreactive bowl. Add the beets, parsley, chives,tarragon, remaining olive oil and sherry vinegar. Mix well and season with salt and pepper.

Separate the beet salad into 8 equal portions. Create a timbale for each portion using a 3 1/2 inch diameter mold. Place the mold on a chilled serving plate and spoon a portion of the salad into the mold and press lightly to make even.

Sprinkle with a portion of the goat cheese.

Julienne the remaining apple into matchstick lengths and put in a nonreactive mixing bowl. Add the frisee and 3 tablespoons of the walnut dressing. Season
with salad and pepper and toss.

Place some of the salad on top of the goat cheese in the mold. Sprinkle with the toasted walnuts and drizzle with additional walnut dressing to taste.

Reference: The Waldorf=Astoria Cookbook Page 138

This salad would be nice for a luncheon, or a first course. I served this with Blue corn crab cakes with a mango green onion relish.

I hope you find this salad as Delicious as I did.

Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good. -Alice May Brock