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Beets with Tomatoes, Blue Cheese and Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette

Prep Time:  35-40 Minutes

     Cook Time:  18-20 Minutes

     Serves:  6

Beets love nearly all kinds of cheese, but my favorite is blue, for the way its funkiness juxtaposes with the vegetable’s sweetness and loamy depth.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4-1 1/2 pounds medium-sized beets (about 6 total), trimmed
  • Olive oil
  • 15-20 yellow pear-shaped cherry tomatoes (*see suggestions)
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
  • 1-2 tsp. Dijon-style mustard
  • 1-2 tsp. minced fresh lemon thyme or thyme leaves
  • 3-4 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1/2 small red onion
  • Red leaf lettuce leaves
  • 3 oz. crumbly blue cheese (like Hook's Little Boy Blue or Salemville's Amish Gorgonzola)

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Rub beets sparingly with olive oil, wrap in foil and bake until partially tender, about 50 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
  2. Meanwhile, cut tomatoes in half lengthwise and place them in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle sparingly with olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until brown-tipped, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
  3. To make the vinaigrette, combine lemon juice and mustard with some salt and pepper. Whisk in olive oil a little at a time. Whisk in thyme.
  4. Peel and slice beets, then cut into matchsticks. Cut the red onion half through its root end into two pieces, then slice very thinly. Gently combine beets, onions and just enough vinaigrette to coat beets. Again add salt and pepper, as needed.
  5. Place lettuce leaves on individual serving plates. Divide beet mixture atop lettuce. Arrange roasted tomatoes around beets. Crumble blue cheese over all.

Notes

Suggestions Go for a more crumbly versus a very creamy blue cheese here; that way you’ll get more contrast between the salty cheese and the earthy beets. Note: there are raw beet salads and cooked beet salads, but this one purposely splits the middle. You want them cooked enough to have some give, but not be crunchy. * Last summer I roasted late-season cherry tomatoes with a little olive oil and then froze them. If you should happen to have done the same, by all means use them in this recipe.