Roasted Mixed Beets With Pistachio Pesto & Blue Cheese Crumbles
I am terribly fond of roasted beets. In fact, I would eat them daily if beets weren’t so darn expensive. There is something about the roasting process that turns an ordinary beet into something extraordinary. The heat of the oven caramelizes the sugars within the beet as it roasts, creating a subtly sweet tender vegetable that is truly irresistible. I recently splurged at Whole Foods after finding a selection of three varieties of beets, that included ordinary red beets, Golden beets, and Chioggia beets. If you aren’t familiar with Chioggia beets, they are striped red and white beets that are very pretty when sliced. As soon as I spied this beet bonanza, I envisioned a platter of gorgeous roasted beets drizzled with a pesto made with pistachios, parsley and basil, and then topped with a sprinkling of blue cheese crumbles. The pungent flavor of blue cheese works well with the earthy sweetness of roasted beets, and in my mind, pesto is great on just about anything!
I roasted my beets, allowed them to cool, and when I sliced them, I found that my Chioggia beets were missing their stripes and were in fact either plain white or pink inside. Oh well, they still tasted great and helped create a colorful platter. This beet dish would be a great starter or holiday side dish although we also enjoyed leftovers the day after for lunch with some crusty Italian bread. I combined basil and parsley in this pesto, but mint is also a great addition. The pesto recipe makes just over a cup of pesto, so you will have some leftover to use later.
Buon Appetito!
Deborah Mele 2014
Roasted Mixed Beets With Pistachio Pesto & Blue Cheese Crumbles
Sweet, roasted beets are topped with a nutty pesto sauce and blue cheese.
Ingredients
For The Beets:
- 2 1/2 Pounds Medium Sized Beets, Trimmed But Unpeeled (Mixed or One Variety)
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
For The Pesto:
- 1 Cup Packed Fresh Basil
- 3/4 Cup Fresh Parsley (or Mint)
- 1 Cup Olive Oil
- 1 Cup Roasted Pistachios
- 1 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
- 3 Cloves Garlic
- Salt & Pepper, To Taste
To Assemble:
- 4 Tablespoons Coarsely Chopped Roasted Pistachios
- 1/2 Cup Blue Cheese Crumbles
- Fresh Parsley, Basil, or Mint Leaves As Garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. and place beets on a foil lined baking sheet.
- Bake the beets until they are tender when pierced with a knife.
- Remove the beets from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Use a sharp knife to peel the beets and cut into 1/4 inch slices/
- Drizzle with the olive oil and arrange on a platter.
- Place the basil, parsley, 3/4 of the oil, pistachios, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is coarsely blended. (You do not want a smooth mixture, but one with some texture).
- Taste the pesto and adjust seasonings as needed, and add the remaining oil.
- Drizzle about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the pesto (depending on your taste), then sprinkle with the chopped pistachios and garnish with the fresh herb leaves.
- Serve at room temperature.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 2 cupsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 634Total Fat: 56gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 45gCholesterol: 8mgSodium: 440mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 7gSugar: 17gProtein: 12g
This looks absolutely beautiful! I wonder if you have seen the article this morning on the BBC about the Mediterranean diet and how it may be the best diet for fighting obesity, not to mention how heart-healthy it is?
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29929403
“A Mediterranean diet may be a better way of tackling obesity than calorie counting, leading doctors have said. Writing in the Postgraduate Medical Journal (PMJ), the doctors said a Mediterranean diet quickly reduced the risk of heart attacks and strokes.”
I know you talk a lot about health on your blogs, and I wondered if you would like to address this article? I also wanted to let you know how inspiring your blogs and writing are to me. I lost 80 pounds several years ago, and have kept it all off, but I have more to lose, and I am in the process of reorganizing my kitchen and will be revamping my eating habits, based partly on your blog and your recipes. Every one of your recipes I have tried has been fantastic, full of flavor, and your directions make things easy to follow. In other words, I am always inspired by what you do, and want to thank you again for the obvious effort you put in here.
Terry, I haven’t seen this particular article but I have done a lot of reading on the Mediterranean diet. Unfortunately, in Italy at least, many of the younger folks have started to eat a more American diet and it shows.
It’s interesting, isn’t it? And I guess it’s the same in Japan and many other cultures which once had very healthy diets. I think it’s partly marketing, and partly that many of us have gotten away from cooking from scratch, thinking it is too time-consuming.
After getting away from a healthier diet my lab tests reflected it. I have started to eat more in line with the Mediterranean diet. That’s how I used to eat and my old lab tests reflected that.
I’ve noted that with kids and animals the good ones seem to pick up the bad habits of the others. Rarely the other way around. I guess it works like that with various countries diets also. Our typical American diet is probably the worst thing we have ever exported.