Dan Eaton cooks up a beet salad with fresh beets that he roasted in the oven, oranges, and almond crusted goat cheese. The salad is finished with a simple orange juice, olive oil, cumin, and jalapeno pepper vinaigrette!

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

SERVES:
4

INGREDIENTS:
4-8 medium size fresh beets (see hints below)
Approx. 1/3 - 1/2 cup whole roasted almonds, ground to medium grind in food processor
1, 8-ounce log plain goat cheese
4 oranges, peeled and sliced
Lettuce as needed for 4 salads

For the Dressing:
Juice of 1/2 orange
Approx. 1/4 - 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 jalapeno pepper, deseeded and minced
Approx. 1/4 tsp ground cumin

PROCEDURE:
Roast the beets in a 400 degree oven in a pan with a tight layer of aluminum foil over the top and about 1/3 cup water in the pan. You'll easily be able to insert a knife into the center of the beets when they're done.

Roast the beets whole and unpeeled, or cut larger beets in half so that they're all the same size. It will take about an hour to roast.

When the beets are cool enough to handle run them under cold water to remove the skins and then use a knife to cut them into thin bite size pieces, adding them to a mixing bowl as you go.

I'm using whole almonds that I bought already roasted and 8 ounces of goat cheese. Grind 1/3 to 1/2 cup almonds in a food processor to a medium coarse grind.

Place the almonds onto a plate and gently but firmly roll the 8 ounce log of goat cheese into that.

Next, make the dressing by combining the juice of 1/2 orange with an equal amount of extra virgin olive oil. Add about 1 Tbs finely minced deseeded jalapeno pepper and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground cumin and whisk it up.

Assemble the salads on individual plates with a little lettuce on the plate topped with sliced orange and sliced beets and some sliced goat cheese. Spoon some vinaigrette over the top and finish with more ground almonds if you like.

HINTS:

• You'll only need 4 beets for 4 salads; but, if you're going to the trouble, it's a good idea roast extra to use for another meal.


• Roast the beets whole and unpeeled or cut larger beets in half, so that they're all the same size. They may take somewhere around an hour to roast.


• You could toast some sliced almonds on the stovetop and then crush those up a little bit instead of using whole roasted almonds.