Baby Spinach with Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese

Well some of last week's vegetables were still in fridge when I got home including lovely beets!  Beets are one of those many vegetables that I despised as a child and even well into adulthood.  In most cases this was because the vegetables were not prepared correctly or to highlight their natural flavours.  Roasting beets is truly the best way to develop their sweetness. This salad happens to be my cousin Caroline's favorite dish - it was her wedding we attended last week - so with her on my mind it was an easy decision as to what I'd do with the beets in my fridge.  This is what I had for dinner with a piece of corn on the cob.

Baby Spinach with Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese
Beets, roasted & diced
Baby Spinach
Goat Cheese crumbled
Walnuts, toasted
Vinaigrette

To roast beets - clean & trim them and put them into a aluminum foil pouch.  Season with salt & pepper and drizzle with olive oil.  Close up pouch and roast in oven at 375 for anywhere from 30-60 mins depending on size of beets.  Let the beets cool and then they are easy to handle and you can remove the skin and dice them.  HUGE TIP: use gloves when peeling & dicing the beets and do it over the foil. Beets stain any and everything they come in contact with!!

To assemble the salad put spinach at the bottom; sprinkle with beets, goat cheese and walnuts and then drizzle with the vinaigrette.  Be sure to toast the walnuts to bring out their flavours - you can do this my putting them in a dry saute pan over low heat and cook them until you can smell them and remove immediately. Feel free to use any other kind of nut here - pistachios are very good as well.

For the vinaigrette I used my standard olive oil, sherry vinegar and dried herbs.  But the salad my cousin loves uses a vinaigrette that is made with shallots and rice wine vinegar which I do love but I didn't have the shallots tonight. 

BABY SPINACH WITH ROASTED BEETS & GOAT CHEESE