Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad Recipe [View all]

[Saviolo]

So, there's that classic mix of roasted beets with goat cheese. You see it on menus frequently, and it is really delicious. The sweet and earthy roasted beets and the rich and slightly sour chèvre make an amazing combination. Sometimes they'll add some toasted walnuts, but we're going to take it even further! We're adding a salad of bitter greens dressed with a very acidic dressing made from red wine vinegar and mustard, so the whole dish is bitter, sour, sweet, with some richness, and a bit of salty. The whole thing comes out very well balanced and delicious.

For the bitter greens, we used Belgian endive, black kale, and radicchio, but you can replace these with your favourite bitter greens. Frisée also works very well in this dish. The trick is that the dressing needs to be acidic enough and salty enough to counteract the intense bitterness of the greens your using. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but it brings a great balance to the dish. Also a great balance of textures, too. There's the crunchy leafy greens, the unctuous goat cheese, the soft roasted beets, and the crispy toasted walnuts.

(I did discover that with those dark beets and all of those dark greens, it's rather hard to get a good photo)