Roasted Beet Appetizer

This is my take on a lovely appetizer I had at Farmhouse in Burlington, VT. I think it's an improvement, because the beets are a bit more caramelized and the dressing is a nice contrast to the smoothness of the beets and goat cheese.

It would also be excellent on a bed of mixed greens, with some extra vinaigrette, and maybe something for crunch.

Roasted Beet Appetizer

Bunch beets, usually 3-4
olive oil
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 tablespoons (cheap) balsamic vinegar
Thyme (optional)
Mild goat cheese- around 2 oz

Preheat oven to 350F.

Trim beet greens off beets, leaving roughly 1 inch of stems attached to the beets. Save the greens for another use (they are basically swiss chard). Scrub the beets, rub them with olive oil (or use spray oil), and wrap them in a pouch of foil. Put that on a cookie sheet.

Roast beets for around 1 hour, until done. The time can vary, but unless you have tiny beets you are not likely to overcook them. They should be tender throughout, and ideally a bit caramelized.

Remove from oven and let cool. Once cool, you can easily slip off the skins. Dice them as you prefer- I like 0.5-0.75 chunks, but that depends on what you're doing with them.

Meanwhile, mix the mustard and the vinegar, and the thyme if using. Add around 3 tablespoons olive oil, slowly, whisking to make a vinaigrette. (Note that this is also my favorite salad dressing!) You can tweak the amount of oil as you prefer.

Add enough vinaigrette to the beet cubes to dress them.

Crumble the goat cheese and sprinkle it on top of the beets. Serve. Room temp works fine.

Garlic Bread

This is the best garlic bread, and suitable for tweaking.

Garlic Bread (for 1 loaf)

1 loaf good italian or french bread. You want a fairly smooth crumb and a crispy but not hard crust

1 head garlic
olive oil
salt

6 tablespoons softened unsalted butter or olive oil
0.5 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons parmesan (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh chopped or dried parsley (optional)

Heat oven to 350-400F.

Cut garlic head(s) in half, put on foil, and sprinkle with olive oil and a wee bit of salt. Wrap well and put on cookie sheet.

Bake around 1 hour. Remove and let cool.

Meanwhile, cut bread in half horizontally.

When garlic is cool, put oil or butter in a small bowl. Squeeze out the roasted garlic into it, picking out the papery bits. Add parm or parley if using (I tend to add the parsley to the non-dairy version, to make the differences obvious when I make both, but if that's not an issue it's nice in the dairy one, too.)

Put half the garlic mix on each half of the bread and spread evenly. Wrap in foil and bake at 350F-500F for 5-10 min. Serve hot, ideally, but it's also great at room temp. If you use the cheese, opening up the foil so it browns is nice.