Oven roasted beets with creamy goat cheese, red onions, pistachios tossed together with a red wine vinaigrette! Makes a great vegetarian side for the holidays.
1mediumred onionsliced very thin, into 1/8 inch thick slices
1/3cuppistachiosroasted
1-2ozgoat cheesecrumbled, or adjust to taste
Red wine vinaigrette
2tablespoonsolive oil30 ml
1tablespoonred wine vinegar15 ml
1/2tablespoonhoney
1/2teaspoondijon mustardor to taste
saltto taste
black pepperto taste
Instructions
Pre-heat your oven to 425 F degrees. Wash and scrub the beets and then trim the top and bottom and cut each beet into 2 pieces. I used 6 medium size beets here. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and drizzle olive oil on top.
Use your hands to coat the beets with the olive oil. Sprinkle some salt and pepper and place the beets on the baking tray with the cut side facing down and bake at 425 F degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until you can insert a fork easily inside the beet. Time will vary depending on the size of the beets. Bigger beets will take more time.
Once done, let them cool and then peel the skin off. You can use a peeler or the skin can also be easily peeled by hands. Once all the beets are peeled, chop them into small pieces (1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces). Set this aside.
To make the red wine vinaigrette (you should do this while the beets are in the oven), take a glass bowl/jar and to that add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil.
Then add 1/2 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar and 1/2 to 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard. Add salt and black pepper to taste and then use a wire whisk to mix it all together.
Slice a medium red onion into very thin slices (1/8 inch) using a mandoline slicer. You can also use a knife but mandoline slicer makes it much easier and also makes sure that all slices are equal. Transfer the sliced onions along with roasted beets into a large bowl.
Add the prepared red wine vinaigrette to it and mix everything using a spatula. Now, add the roasted pistachios (reserve 1 tablespoon for garnishing later) and mix.
To serve, transfer it to your serving bowl/platter, top with reserved pistachios and crumbled goat cheese. You can add as much goat cheese as you prefer/like. Serve it as an appetizer or as a side.
Notes
The vinaigrette can be adjusted to taste. Like you can use more of honey for a sweeter vinaigrette or more of Dijon mustard as per your liking.
If you don't want to use beets, butternut squash would also be really good here. You would roast it the same way and basically follow all the recipe as it.
Beets can be steamed or pressure cooked as well. But roasting in the oven really brings out so much flavor.
Adjust the amount of goat cheese to taste and preference. You can add much as you like. I generally add around 1 to 2 oz but you can definitely double it.
If you have nut allergy, you can substitute the pistachios with pumpkin seeds.