Beet and Goat Cheese Salad with Pistachios
Beets and Goat Cheese Salad with Pistachios is a beautiful way to show your love! It’s impressive-looking (but surprisingly easy) and so very tasty! Plate it on a heart-shaped serving dish and you will melt hearts!
This lovely salad is simply layers of diced roasted beets sandwiching a thin layer of goat cheese and drizzled with a light shallot-lemon dressing and sprinkled with chopped pistachio nuts.
It gets its beauty from the layers of beets that are formed in a cookie cutter. It might look intricate, but I know you can do this!
It’s important to roast the golden and red beets in separate foil pouches and keep them separated throughout the “construction” of this salad. Otherwise, the red beets will leek color onto the golden beets and become messy looking.
The dressing is minced shallots, lemon juice, salt & pepper and oil whisked together. I love pistachio oil, but it’s pricey so use whatever oil you have that’s neutral. I would stay away from olive oil, but an avocado or even canola oil will be great.
Once the beets are roasted (it takes a bout one hour), let them cool and then peel them and dice them (1/4-inch dice is perfect for this salad). Place them in separate bowls and drizzle a bit of the shallot-lemon dressing over each bowl of beets. Toss them lightly.
Using a 2 & 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, place it on your salad plate and place 1/8 of the red beets into the bottom of the cutter. Press the beets down as compactly as you can without smashing them. Crumble 1/8 of the goat cheese over the red beets and then place 1/8 of the golden beets over the top. Again, try to compact them as much as possible.
Carefully remove the cookie cutter and repeat with the remaining 7 plates.
If you don’t want to make as many, you can scale down the recipe easily. I wanted to make just two servings, so I used less beets. Also, if you have leftover beets, they are delicious in a salad, so don’t worry about waste!
You can also substitute feta cheese if you prefer it over goat cheese. They are both lovely with the beets.
Top the beets with chopped pistachio nuts, drizzle some additional dressing around the salad plate and add some herbs to the top of the stack for color.
As I said, this is a very impressive salad to serve to your honey, guests, or both!
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Beet and Goat Cheese Salad with Pistachios
Makes: 8 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour & 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 large red beets
- 2 large golden beets
- 1/4 cup minced shallot
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1/4 cup pistachio, avocado or other neutral oil
- 4 ounces soft mild goat cheese or feta cheese
- 3 tbsp salted shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped
- Parsley or other green herb for garnish
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°F. Separately wrap red and golden beets tightly in double layers of foil and roast in middle of oven until tender, 1 to 1 & 1/2 hours. Unwrap beets.
While beets are cooling slightly, whisk together shallot, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a small bowl; add oil in a stream, whisking.
When beets are cool enough to handle, slip off and discard skins. Separately cut red and golden beets into 1/4-inch dice and put in separate bowls. Add 2 & 1/2 tablespoons dressing to each bowl and toss to coat.
Place 2 & 1/2-inch round cookie cutter in center of one of eight salad plates. Put 1/8 of red beets in cutter and pack down with your fingertips. Crumble 2 teaspoons goat cheese on top, then add 1/8 of the golden beets, packing them down. Gently lift cookie cutter up and away from stack. Make 7 more servings in same manner, Drizzle each plate with 1 teaspoon dressing and scatter with some pistachios. Top beet stack with green herb, if desired.
Chef’s Notes:
Beets can be roasted and diced one day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before using.
Molded beet salad can be assembled 45 minutes ahead and kept covered at cool room temperature.
Recipe from Epicurious
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