My Heart Beats for Beets

One of my favourite things to do, along with my foodie-in crime, is checkout fine dining restaurants we wouldn’t normally go to.  Just over a year ago, Alan and I went to Fabbrica, at the Shops at Don Mills in Toronto.  Fabulous!! It was there we had a our first taste of a beet carpaccio dish that we have been interested in replicating ever since.  Carpaccio usually refers to thin slices of raw beef but using this root vegetable instead was, in my opinion, even better.  The dish from Fabbrica was our source of inspiration for today’s Foodie Fridays post…

Making it at home, we didn’t want to be fussed with thinly slicing the beets and felt that a balsamic-honey reduction would be in line with the flavours our taste buds were craving.  So, we looked online for some further suggestions and finally came up with our own creation.  I managed to find some golden beets at the grocery store, which I was super excited about.  Love the contrast of the golden and purple hues on my plate:

Beets and Walnuts with Goat Cheese and Balsamic-Honey Reduction

• 2 bunches of beets (purple, golden or combo of the two)
• 1 c. balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 c. honey
• 1/4 c. toasted walnuts
• 1/4 c. goat cheese
• Walnut oil (truffle oil would be yummy too and, of course, olive oil would work in a pinch)
• Pepper to taste
• Salt to taste (only if omitting the balsamic reduction)

1. Boil or roast beets.  Alan boiled and then peeled them.  I prefer to peel and then roast mine at 400 F, for approximately 45 min (keep in mind that if you roast them they will reduce in size). Set aside and cool.
2. Prepare balsamic honey reduction.  Place balsamic and honey together in a saucepan, set over the stove on high heat.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened.
3. Once beets are cooled, dice into desired shape – cubes, sticks, etc.
4. Set a handful of beets on individual salad plates.  Top with a generous sprinkle of walnuts and goat cheese.  Drizzle with balsamic honey reduction and another drizzle of walnut oil.  Season with pepper.

Optional: Include the leafy green portion from the beet stems in your dish.  They make a great bed to rest the salad on and just adds to the visual appeal.  This link suggests steaming, sauteing or boiling them.  We removed the stem part, thoroughly rinsed and used only the leafy greens.

Foodie Fridays is a weekly blog series from Michelle Pitman, attempting to remove the stigma and the labelling of food that tastes good as being bad for you; to show how supportive choices can incorporate all categories of food and that balanced eating means you are satisfying your physical needs as well as the emotional ones.   Bon Appetit!!