Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Beet, Blue Cheese & Walnut Salad

Season's first beets are here! I find beets somewhat challenging to prepare, since roasting (and maybe grilling) is the only way to do it right, and it does take an age. (Actually it's not so much the time as the fact that you never know how long it'll take.) Once you're done, you sort of want there to be more to it than a bunch of, well, edible root veg.

Beet, Blue Cheese & Walnut Salad

Not to knock the old beets-with-butter side dish, which is after all a classic for a reason (it's not just the butter, either), but this time I wanted to go for another classic combo: beets, walnuts and blue cheese. The last time I went for this pairing, it was in somewhat unorthodox empanadas, but that's just too fussy for a weeknight in summer, so I turned to the trusty Epicurious for some salad hints. The dressing is, erm, less-than-beautiful (this is what comes of reading a recipe, thinking "yeah, I'll remember what to do" and then... not remembering what to do), but very tasty!

Beet, Blue Cheese & Walnut Salad
adapted from The Figs Table by Todd English and Sally Sampson

5 medium-sized beets, with stems trimmed to an inch or so of the root, scrubbed clean
1 tbsp or so of olive oil
a handful of walnuts
a few tbsp fresh chopped herbs; I used mint and basil
salt & pepper to taste
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

½ tbsp olive oil
¼ cup chopped walnuts
½ small red onion, thinly sliced
80 g (about 3 oz) blue cheese (I used Roquefort)
a few tbsp light cream

Rub the beets with a bit of olive oil, wrap tightly in tin foil and roast at 200°C (400°F) for about 40-50 minutes, until tender. Let cool for a while, then rub the skin off and cut into strips/slices/whatever. Mix in walnuts and herbs and season with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. (If your salad isn't all wilted and sad, toss some in, too - the original used arugula.)

Sautée the chopped walnuts in the olive oil and set aside. Whizz together cheese and cream in a food processor until smooth, add the cooled walnuts and the onion and run the blender for a while longer. Add more cream if it's too solid and more cheese if it's runny. Serve with the beets.

13 comments:

  1. Wonderful!!! I caramelised my first new season's beets last weekend with some olive oil and garlic, but as it's going to take ages before my beet-limit is up, I'm going to bookmark this recipe for sure..

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am only in the beginnings of getting to know and appreciate beets so this is definitely getting saved :) Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't believe you could go wrong with anything that has blue cheese AND walnuts...
    Beets seem to mix nicely with cheese, as well (have only tried chevre, though).

    This will definitely have to be tried soon!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow! Its great.... Beets with blue cheese.... its looking awesome.... Great Idea. Thanks for sharing this interesting Salad Recipe....

    ReplyDelete
  5. I found a lot of helpful info here!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just recently set up my very first article site. y new site is in I wanted to look at other blogs to get ideas on how to make my blog awesome and I got a lot of great ideas off of your blog.thanks for the great ideas,I hope you don�t mind? I want to include some of your article on my site and of course I will link back to your site.Thank You.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Really great post, Thank you for sharing This knowledge.Excellently written article, if only all bloggers offered the same level of content as you, the internet would be a much better place. Please keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  8. For my part every person ought to go through it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, but I am firmly convinced of this and love to learn more about the subject. If possible, acquire knowledge, would you update your blog with more information? It is very helpful to me

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am thoroughly convinced in this said post. I am currently searching for ways in which I could enhance my knowledge in this said topic you have posted here. It does help me a lot knowing that you have shared this information here freely. I love the way the people here interact and shared their opinions too. I would love to track your future posts pertaining to the said topic we are able to read.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Please one more post about that.I wonder how you got so good. This is really a fascinating blog, lots of stuff that I can get into. One thing I just want to say is that your Blog is so perfect

    ReplyDelete
  12. It cannot have effect in reality, that is what I think.
    good first cars | Montreal airport | website widgets

    ReplyDelete
  13. It won't work in actual fact, that is what I suppose.

    ReplyDelete