How (not) to Roast Beets

I'm looking forward to next month's cooking club already. Not only because I had a great time with you ladies but because perhaps I'll be willing to post the recipe I selected.

This month I made a beet salad for two reasons
1) I liked the pretty picture in my new cookbook and
2) because I've never tried roasting beets and decided my time had come.

After reviewing conflicting ideas online about how to successfully roast beets I went with the cookbook (I should never have doubted you Martha). After roasting for 45 minutes and cooling as instructed the beets were still hard. So I cranked up the heat, put them back in the oven and had about 10 minutes before the smoke alarm went off. Faced with undercooked beets and no groceries for a different dish I peeled the beets, chopped them into small cubes, tossed with olive oil and s&p and tried roasting them again. 45 minutes later I had beets that I was satisfied with but not ultimately what I was hoping for.

The beets, toasted pine nuts, goat cheese and basil went on top of salad greens (I used a mix of fancy lettuce and arugula). The dressing the recipe called for was a mix of lemon juice, raw garlic and olive oil which, not surprisingly, tasted like lemony olive oil with raw garlic. I should have know better but I was giving the cookbook a chance to get something right. I made a Dijon vinaigrette instead.

Overall the salad was fine but I don't think the recipe deserves to make the blog. I'm putting my hopes on March. And a new cookbook.

Arugula Salad with Warm Goat Cheese by Annika

Hello Ladies! I must admit, Cooking Club has quickly risen to one of my favorite pastimes. My goal is to become more familiar with basic recipes and eventually be more adventurous.

For this Valentines themed event, I decided to try the Barefoot Contessa Warm Goat Cheese atop Giada de Laurentis' Arugula Salad, with the recipes found here and here, respectively. After Inger Johnson stole every last beet in Seattle, I used strawberries and pomegranate seeds in lieu of the red root vegetable.

Obviously, the key to this salad is bread crumb crusted goat cheese medallions. I hope to use it as a key ingredient with any type of salad I make in the future because they were delicious and easy with only three quick steps: 1.) slicing the cheese log with dental floss, 2.) dipping in egg whites then bread crumbs (which are now conveniently sold at Trader Joe's) and finally, 3.) pan frying. Oddly enough, I have a picture of the salad I left for my husband because he got me a brand new camera for Valentines Day and apparently everything has become a Kodak moment for me.

Thanks again for making it a great night and I am already looking forward to next month! - Annika