Beets With Garlic-Walnut Sauce

I love the idea here, of a Beet Salad, in which the more usual feta is replaced with garlic and walnuts.  "Give the goats a break."  Bittman is so funny. So, this is his Beet Salad with Garlic-Walnut Sauce.  A winning combination, from the Minimalist Series, (A Divorce for Beets and Goat Cheese) on the NY Times website.

You begin with oven roasting beets in foil. Since I received a few little beets in shades of red-orange and burgundy from my CSA,  this was a natural do do for I Heart Cooking Clubs with the garlic and Vampire theme this week. They were just enough for salad for the two of us.

 Beets With Garlic-Walnut Sauce

From the NY Times article by Mark Bittman

2 pounds red beets, about 4 large (adjust according to what you have - mine were little ones), trimmed of greens
1/4 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup walnuts
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, I added some lemon juice for zip
Salt and black pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves, for garnish or lemon basil, and  arrange on lettuce leaves
This amount serves 4.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Wash beets well. While still wet, wrap them in foil and place on a cookie sheet or roasting pan. Bake beets, undisturbed, for 60 to 90 minutes, until a thin-bladed knife pierces each with little resistance. (They may cook at different rates; remove each one when it is done. Mine were so small they only took 30 min.)

2. Meanwhile, put oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. When it is warm, add garlic and cook until fragrant and beginning to soften, about 6 minutes. Add walnuts and continue to cook until they begin to color, about another 4 minutes. Let mixture cool slightly and then put it in a small food processor; process until you have a relatively smooth paste. Add orange juice to taste and sprinkle with salt and lots of pepper. I thought it needed a bit more acidic tang, and added juice of about 1/2 lemon..

These baby beets are Bulls Blood and Chioggia (which are striped inside) and so pretty.

3. After beets have cooled, peel off skins. Slice beets into wedges or cubes and toss with dressing. Taste and adjust seasoning, garnish with parsley and serve.  Or, you can do more than a touch of green, as I did, and arrange your beets on a bed of lettuce leaves, with a bit of lemon basil. What an amazing assemblage of tastes, with the mild flavor of toasted garlic, earthy walnuts, and a citrusy zing of orange and lemon juice.  Who needs feta?

Check out all the Garlic Themed recipes which will be coming in this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs.