The Beet Goes On
There are some things that never go out of fashion on a bistro menu. French onion soup, Caesar salad, tuna tartare. Not just any dish is qualified to become a mainstay. Some come and go seasonally like gazpacho in the summer and harvest salads studded with walnuts and apples in the fall. Rarely a dish transcends the seasons to find a year-round home and near ubiquity.
In recent years I would contend that a relative newcomer to the bistro menu, the beet salad, has found just such a perennial menu slot. You know the one that I’m talking about. Bite-sized chunks of crimson beets are roasted until the sugars concentrate down into intense sweetness. More often than not those cloying beets appear side-by-side with creamy goat cheese, the tanginess of the cheese offsetting the candied vegetable.
But even the most beloved bistro classic occasionally gets an update. A Caesar Salad is made with large leaves of romaine grilled on a large barbecue. Tuna tartare gets a swirl of curry mayonnaise.
As for the beet and goat cheese salad, it was only a matter of time before this modern classic was given an update. The trend toward updating this staple was on full display during a recent trip to wine country in Northern California.
One lunch brought small cubes of red beets alongside the classic goat cheese with segments of tart blood oranges. These ingredients were scattered over one inch long slices of crunchy, bitter Belgian endive. With the bitter, sour, tangy and sweet elements already covered by the salad’s main ingredients, the dish needed little more than a drizzle of good olive oil and sprinkle of salt to call it complete.
Not more than a few hours later, another restaurant down the road from the first was feeling the same sort of beet salad revisited vibe. Here a large sharing platter arrived brimming with chunks of roasted red and golden beets, here again were the segments of blood oranges, deep fried chickpeas dusted in Indian spices dotted the top along with shavings of salty ricotta salata. The approach was slightly different on each occasion but the idea--beets, citrus, cheese, crunchy element--stuck with me.
Back home I was lucky to find some blood oranges still at the market, some of the last of the season. But once the blood oranges go away I could easily substitute Cara Cara oranges or grapefruit. I have always liked the contrast of red and gold beets so I picked up a couple of each. For crunch I leaned toward a nut: raw green pistachios gave just a hint of springtime to come. I went with a local, fresh goat cheese but could have easily swapped that out for fresh ricotta or burrata if I was feeling indulgent.
The salad was classic yet new at the same time. It was easy to see with how with the simple switch of cheese, citrus, or crunchy ingredients this modern salad staple would stay fresh but essential, never old.
Made with goat cheese, salt and black pepper, beets, blood oranges, pistachios, olive oil
Serves/Makes: 6
- 2 pounds beets, red, gold or mixture of the two
- 3 blood oranges
- 6 tablespoons raw pistachios
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and black pepper
- 2 ounces goat cheese
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Trim off any greens still attached to the beets. Rinse beets to remove any dirt. Wrap each beet separately in foil.
Place beets on a rimmed baking sheet and place the sheet on a rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. The beets will be done when a paring knife easily pierces the beet all the way through.
While the beets are roasting, prepare the blood oranges. Use a sharp paring knife to remove the peel and pith from each orange. Slide the blade of the knife down either side of each segment to remove the individual segments from the membranes. Place the segments in a large bowl.
Place pistachios in a saute pan over medium high heat. Toast for about five minutes until lightly browned. Set aside.
When beets are cooked, remove each from the foil wrapper and let cool until easy to handle. Remove peel from each beet by rubbing or peeling off. Cut each beet into small bite-sized pieces.
Add cut, cooled beets to the bowl with the blood oranges. Toss with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Break up goat cheese into small bits. Add cheese and pistachios to the salad and toss lightly to combine.
Serve at room temperature.
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