Roasted beet salad and goat cheese crostini

Things on toast have been having a bit of a moment lately. First, there was the infamous $4 toast in San Francisco, and who could forget all that avocado-smeared toast, like, everywhere? But the truth is, Italians have been doing it for millenia (this is a guesstimate - I’m not a historian) and it’s called crostini. Crostini is most often topped with some sort of tomato something, but the way I see it, any small piece of toast topped with anything is crostini. So there’s that rant.

Beets are delicious in various preparations and are easily one of my favorite vegetables. They also have tremendous health benefits: they can help lower blood pressure; they’re a great source of folate, manganese and potassium; they contain an phytonutrient called betanin, which has been shown to provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and detox support; betanin has also shown to lessen humor tumor growth. As a rule of thumb, purple foods are generally highly nutritious - think blueberries, purple cabbage.

If you buy your beets with the top greens still attached, be sure to save them. They’re great cooked (recipe coming up soon!) or juiced - do not throw them out. If you’d prefer not to take the crostini route, this roasted beet salad makes a great side dish.

Roasted beet salad and goat cheese crostini
(Yield: About 12 crostini)
Ingredients:

• 3 small beets
• 1/4 c toasted walnuts, finely chopped
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt + freshly ground black pepper
• About 2 oz goat cheese
• 12 small slices of bread, toasted, broiled or grilled

Procedure: To roast beets, preheat oven to 400F. (If your beets have the green tops attached, cut them off and save them for later.) Thoroughly scrub beets and place each one on a square of foil. Fold foil around each beet and pour 1 tsp water over each beet. Wrap foil tighly around beets and roast until they can be easily pierced with a paring knife, about 40 min. Unwrap each beet and let cool (this can be done up to 3 days ahead). Once cool enough to handle, peel beets using a paring knife. Shred beets (by hand or in a food processor) and transfer to a bowl. Add walnuts, garlic, oil and pinches of salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Divide beet salad among toasted bread slices and top with goat cheese crumbles.

What is your favorite way to prepare beets?