Roasted Beet Bruschetta

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roasted-beet-bruschetta

Do you want to know a secret?

I hate don’t like beets.

In fact, I kind of despise them.

I swore to my food blogging friend, Dara, just a few weeks back that I would never post a beet recipe on my blog.

Um, yeah. Now I’m eating my words. Which is fine. I’d rather eat my words than eat beets.

Remember that farm dinner I catered a few weeks back? Well, the whole point of the dinner was to use fresh produce from the farm. Beets are going off this summer. So even though they aren’t my fave, I’m all about making the client happy. So in addition to an awesome white bean and scape dip, I served a platter of these beauties as guests mingled and had cocktails.

Even I have to admit they made for a beautiful platter. Everyone who ate them raved about how purty they were and then when they tasted them I got lots of mmmmmmmm, oooooooh type responses. I’m taking that as a good thing.

I roast a batch of these every week or two for my husband since we get some in our CSA basket every week.

(Even though I don’t like beets, I hate more to see beautiful produce go to waste!)

preparing-beets-to-roast

Roasting beets are painless and take little prep. I trim them leaving just about an inch on the stems, throw them in a baking dish with a cup over water or so, cover, can cook about an hour. Once cooked through, the skin peels right off. Here is a great photo tutorial on roasting and peeling beets.

Simple.
beet-bruschetta

Because beets are so sweet, I keep the vinaigrette simple with some garlic and citrus. The creamy tart goat cheese also helps to balance things. Topped with some fresh chives these are scrumdidilyumptious.

Or so I’ve been told.

Roasted Beet Bruschetta

Ingredients

  • 1 bunch beets, stems trimmed to 1/2-inch
  • zest of one orange
  • 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
  • 1 small clove garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • salt and freshly ground pepper
  • baguette, sliced into 1/4-inch slices
  • chevre type goat cheese
  • chopped chives for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Place washed and trimmed beats in a baking dish with a cup of water. Cover pan tightly with foil and place in preheated oven. Cook for 1 hour. Remove beets from oven and cool. Peel beets and dice into 1/4-inch chunks. Place beets in a medium size bowl. In a small mason jar, combine orange zest and juice, dijon mustard, garlic, olive oil and salt. Cover tightly and shake until vinaigrette is well combined. Pour dressing over beets and toss to combine. You can serve immediately or place beets in fridge until ready to serve. To make crostini, slice baguette and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place on a cookie sheet and bake in a 375F degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Spread crostini with goat cheese and scoop beet mixture on top. Sprinkle with chives and serve.