Roasted Baby Golden Beet, Gala Apple, Kumquat
Raw Sheep’s Milk French Roquefort, Pistachio
Dandelion, Butterhead, Roasted Poblano Vinaigrette
Tricolor Viola & Wild Mustard Flower Garnish
Roasted tarragon-scented sweet soft baby golden beets are paired with tart-crisp apple, bitter-spiky dandelion, creamy-smooth butter lettuce, zingy kumquat, tangy Roquefort, rich pistachios and a playfully-spicy poblano chile vinaigrette. It’s a very refreshing, harmonious, and somewhat surprising salad – which I submit to this month’s 5 Star Makeover Cooking Group Challenge featuring BEETS.
The 5 Star Makeover Cooking Group hosted by Natasha the 5 Star Foodie & Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks! is an outstanding monthly event for sharing ideas and creating gourmet makeovers of selected classic dishes or flavor combinations. It continues to be a great source of inspiration and my absolute pleasure to be on the team. Please visit their blogs this coming Friday to enjoy the round-up of super-creative beets recipes from this talented cooking group.
Components
Beets
trimmed peeled baby golden beets
tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper
roast, covered, with several sprigs of tarragon
at 425° for about 25 minutes
let come to room temperature, slice in half lengthwise
Two Poblano Chile Sauces
4 medium fire-roasted poblano chiles
skinned, seeded, fine-dice
Poblano Puree
roast 1 shallot in 3 T. olive oil at 375° for 30 minutes, let cool slightly
puree 2 chiles with the shallot & olive oil, plus 2 T. water in a blender until smooth
strain through a fine-mesh sieve, season with salt & pepper
Poblano Vinaigrette
combine 2 chiles with 1 T. rice vinegar
whisk in 3 T. olive oil, season with salt & pepper
Gala Apple
julienne, toss with lime juice
Kumquat
sliced and seeded
Roquefort
raw sheep’s milk french roquefort, crumbled
Pistachio
roasted and chopped
Greens
dandelion and butterhead
Flowers
edible tricolor viola and wild mustard
To Combine
gently toss beets, apple, kumquat, roquefort
with poblano vinaigrette
To Compose
arrange dandelion leaves on a platter
dot with poblano puree
top dandelion with 2 butter lettuce leaves
arrange beet mixture over the lettuce
sprinkle with pistachio
garnish with flowers
Resplendent Baby Golden Beet Salad
Inspiration from my hero, Chef Charlie Trotter and the passionate Farmers of Santa Paula, California.
It’s raining beets. Hallelujah. It’s raining beets.
Baby Golden Beet Salad is Part 1 of a two part beet-centric vegetarian meal.
Part 2: Baby Candy Stripe Beet Fettuccine, Beet Syrup is now posted here.
Now this is a salad!! Every component is so well thought out and brings the perfect touch to the dish. And I love the color scheme you’ve chosen…it makes it feel like spring is in the air. 😉 Part 2 sounds like a winner also!
Resplendent indeed! Those are the sweetest little beets and I love that you always make use (and introduce me to) all the bounty of your area of the universe. This is a beautiful and innovative creation — and I can’t believe it’s only the first course!
WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Oh my goodness, this is exquisite. This should win awards – I can’t get it onto my IWANT TO MAKE THIS! Pinterest board fast enough *mad clicking*
Wow, really a gorgeous salad! I like the poblano here with the smoky flavors and the pairing with roquefort is awesome.
That is truly a work of art – but a highly edible one. you have a gift for creating wonderful flavor and texture and color combinations.
Resplendent is the perfect word for this!
Resplendent is the perfect word for this stunning food masterpiece. I love beets and would probably pay dearly in a restaurant for this amazing salad!
Beautiful, beautiful plating skills! And the salad sounds delightful 🙂
Your presentation is stunning! It makes me smile as just looking at it. I’ve seen a combination between beets and apple/pear. It sounds delicious. Love the color of this dish too! I’m bummed to not be able to participate the challenge this month :-/
Gorgeous salad!
I think this post should be a coffee-table book – it’s just so pretty. You’ll make a beet-eater out of me yet! (I do cook them!)
This is really, really beautiful. I browse through so many recipes in my reader and this one literally made me stop and go… wow. Great job Lori Lynn!
So beautiful! I’d love to be able to replicate this, but I don’t even know if the flowers or green are available here.
As always, stunning! Your presentation is second-to-none and everything sounds delicious as it looks!
What a beautiful dish – well I’m not surprised, LL, since your dishes are always super stunning! My family will be surprised if I could serve this kind of meal on our table. 😉
wow, this salad is absolutely gorgeous!
This looks incredible! Almost too beautiful to eat!
What an orchestra of flavors – I’m imagining how wonderful each bite must be!
This is seriously one of the most beautiful things I think I have ever seen! Love the colors!
nice abba reference. the golden beets look so happy and sunny, we could use them here in the dreary pacific northwest!
Wow! This is just beautiful! I love beets, but this is one of the most delicious sounding beet salads I have encountered!
You are outrageously gifted!!!
You go girl… that is like a painting. Roquefort and beets are a classic pairing. I love the way you built the dish up like a flower arrangement. I am really digging the poblano addition too… very interesting choice with the beets… provocative… like that. Great and beautiful dish
Wow, what a beautiful salad that is, I’ve not seen yellow beets before. I bet this salad is tasty. Congrats on the top 9!
I don’t even know what to say … this is so incredible. It’s art, I love it.
I adore the finesse of this salad. A work of food art!
Stunning salad with incredible flavors! Excellent choice for these gorgeous little beets 🙂
This is such art…truly art. I love beets…I’m sure it was delicious!!!
This is one of my favorite dishes of yours to date! What irony considering I’m not the biggest fan of beets. You just make it look so divine, pretty and too artsy to eat! Lovely work!
Beautifully composed dish. Love the use of dandelion greens. Underused green for sure. A feast for the eyes as well as the palate.
Another PERFECTLY executed dish! Wow! Please stop making me sooo hungry lol A very belated congratulations on Top 9 =]
Just a stunning dish and salivating recipe
Art on a plate! What a magnificent salad. One that I know, just from the ingredients, that I would love! xx
This is a work of art worthy of the most prestigious restaurant in Paris! Amazing!!!!
Speechless!!!
Amazing work.