Roasted-Beet Salad With Goat Cheese and Walnuts Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to peel beets before or after roasting? ›

No need to peel before or after baking. The skin, which is perfectly edible, just seems to disappear during the baking process.

Roasting beets gives them a sweeter, richer, and deeper flavor than boiling does. As a cook, I am inspired by colors, so I find beets particularly exciting to work with. My favorite way to cook beets is to roast them, which gives a sweeter, richer, and deeper flavor than boiling does.

Key pairing considerations for beet and goat cheese salad include balancing the earthiness of the beets and the creaminess of the goat cheese with bright, refreshing wines. Sancerre, Provence rosé, Albariño, and Verdejo are excellent choices that enhance the salad's flavors.

Carlos Creek's La Crescent wine is a great complement to this salad, with its bright fruit flavors and acidity that pairs perfectly with the pickled beets and vinaigrette. Not only will you get in your serving of veggies, but you'll also get a serving of fruit in the form of this delicious wine!

Sometimes beets are peeled before cooking. They may also be scrubbed and cooked until tender with their skins on; the skins slip off fairly easily after cooling. (Some people are happy to leave the skins on; they are fine to eat.)

ROAST IN THE OVEN UNTIL TENDER

This will vary based on the size of each beet, but generally speaking, medium beets will take around 45 minutes to roast at 400F. You'll know the beets are almost done when you start to smell a deep, subtly-sweet, and borderline burned beet flavor.

Roasting beets deepens their natural sugars while tempering bitterness. Bake whole, wrapped beets at 400°F for 60-75 minutes until easily pierced by a fork. Allow to cool before peeling and juicing. Incorporating roasted beets creates a smoother, mellower, almost nutty-flavored blended juice.

Some benefits of eating beets may include lower blood pressure and better athletic performance, among others. Eating beets raw or juicing and roasting them may be more beneficial than boiling them. Beetroots, commonly known as beets, are a vibrant and versatile type of vegetable.

While it may seem like a good idea to have beets daily because of their benefits, you may need to exercise caution when eating them. Eating beets or drinking beet juice may lead to kidney stones, a potential food allergy, or stool or urine color changes.

CHAMPAGNE AND CRÉMANT WITH SEMI-AGED OR CREAMY GOAT'S CHEESE

Between fresh and dry, often runny or mellow, semi-aged goat's cheeses go very well with sparkling wines. A Blanc de Noirs Champagne, made from the Pinot Noir grape variety, echoes the grape varieties of the Upper Loire.

What is the best white wine to pair with goat cheese? ›

Sauvignon Blanc

The bright acidity in a prime Sauvignon makes a truly complementary pairing to the natural punchiness of funky goat cheese, completing a refreshing and rejuvenating pairing. If you don't have a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc on hand but want to keep your pairing local, reach for some Chenin Blanc.

Fruits like citrus, berries, melons, apples, pineapple, grapes, kiwi, pears and peaches all mix exceptionally well with beets. Their sweet, tart notes help temper the intense vegetal taste of the beets.

CLASSIC WINE PAIRING

Goat cheese and Sauvignon Blanc is a pairing made in heaven. With this salad the go-to ideal wine is a varietal or Sauvignon Blanc dominant AOC Bordeaux Blanc. Crisp, energetic, juicy it offers perfect freshness on the palate.

While some people peel beets, they're kind of messy and to be honest, it's not necessary to do before cooking. Once cooked the skins just slide right off. If the beets are large, cut them in halves or quarters so they cook faster.

Steaming beets is a healthful cooking method because they retain most of their vitamins and minerals—they're not boiled out in water—and stay incredibly vibrant. Plus, steaming small beets or beet quarters is quick and easy for weeknights.

Roast Them

Roasting is an overall healthy cooking method with minimal vitamin loss, particularly vitamin C. Roasted beets are rich and sweet with slight mineral flavors. Remember to avoid long cooking times and high temperatures, as these can reduce nutrients.

Most people do peel beets, because the skin is a bit unattractive and can be dirty even after a good scrub. But beet skins are rich in nutrients and perfectly fine to eat too.