Golden Beets

Luke: I love the idea. Thanks for starting it. I hope you don't mind if I kick things off with a recipe I tried last Sunday...

I recently discovered golden beets. I stumbled across them at Whole Foods a couple of months ago. The first time we tried them, we roasted them in the oven for about an hour, along with some carrots and parsnip. I drizzled them with a little olive oil beforehand, and that was it. Very simple, but very delicious. Our roast vegetables accompanied a roast chicken, a traditional British Sunday dinner as we learned from an experience we had in London.

Last Sunday, we tried golden beets again. This time I grilled them. I followed a recipe I found on foodnetwork.com (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-challenge/grilled-beets-with-goats-cheese-and-walnuts-recipe/index.html):

Ingredients

• 6 large whole beets

Marinade:

• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dry thyme leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon dry basil leaves
• 1/8 teaspoon dry oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil

Vinaigrette:

• 1 1/4 cups walnuts
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1 1/2 ounces red wine vinegar
• 2 ounces pomace olive oil
• 1-ounce walnut oil
• 1/2 pound soft goat cheese
• 1/4 cup chives (cut into match sticks)

Directions

Preheat a grill.

Cover beets by 3 inches with cold water in a large saucepot. Bring the water to boil and simmer until paring knife slides out of beet when pricked. Strain and let cool. While running under water, rub beets with towel to remove skin. Slice beets into 1/2-inch rounds. Prepare marinade by combining all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well and add vegetable oil. Toss sliced beets and hold.

To prepare the walnuts, melt butter in a 10-inch skillet and add walnuts. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes and season well with salt and pepper. Reserve left over butter.

For the vinaigrette add all the ingredients and the walnut butter. Whisk well.

To finish, grill beets on both sides for 2 minutes and toss in vinaigrette. Place 4 to 6 slices of beets on each plate and drizzle with vinaigrette. Add 5 dollops of goat's cheese (1 to 2 ounces) per serving, sprinkled with walnuts and chives.

We ate them with a pork loin I grilled and with a walnut apple salad Sarah made. It was all delicious.