What better way to start my posts in 2016 than with this colourful Pear & Balsamic Beetroot Salad with Goat’s Cheese that combines tender roasted baby beets with pear that has been prepared three ways before topping with creamy goat’s cheese and a tangy balsamic dressing. A delicious salad that you can serve stacked as an elegant starter or as bright side salad to accompany your main. Either way, I highly recommend that you include my Pear & Balsamic Beetroot Salad with Goat’s Cheese in the menu of your first dinner party for 2016.
My favourite sandwich when I was a kid was beetroot and cheese. Thick slabs of processed cheese with thin slices of sickly sweet tinned beetroot wedged between two pieces of white bread was my most often requested lunch for school. I’m no longer a fan of tinned beetroot or processed cheese blocks so when a friend shared a link from Good Food for and-balsamic-beetroot-salad-with-baby-rocket-pecans-and-goats-curd-20111018-29waz.html” target=”_blank”>Pear & Balsamic Beetroot Salad with Baby Rocket and Goat’s Curd I thought it was high time my Cheese & Beets grew up.
I first made my version of Pear & Beetroot salad for our annual family Boxing Day get together. The pears I had were a little under ripe so, not to be defeated, I decided to caramelise a portion to ensure they were nice and tender. And just because I think that pine nuts are little drops of golden sunshine I used them in my salad instead of pecans. The end result was an extremely tasty grown up salad that was declared a hit! The sweetness of the pears and beetroot are perfectly complimented by the creamy yet tangy goat’s cheese and the pear crisps and nuts introduce a lovely crunchy texture to the salad. A final drizzle of the balsamic oil that is also used to roast the beetroot and I am sure you will agree, this makes a sophisticated change to tinned beets and soap cheese!
After the Boxing Day success of the salad I knew that it was going to be my first recipe for 2016. Salads aren’t necessarily easy to photograph so I spent a few days trying to decide how best to approach my shoot and kept coming back to the idea of stacking the ingredients for a starter rather than a side dish. I love the way each ingredient is its own star in the stack, and I hope you agree, it looks pretty too. Don’t be put off by the number of processes involved to get this delightful dish onto the plate. It is much simpler than it sounds and you can prepare the crisps, roasted beetroot and caramelised pear the day before you need to serve.
Pear Salad
As a starter or side, this salad is a definite stand out at any party.
This is such a beautiful salad. I love that you stacked them as a starter as well, they make such an elegant appetizer!
Almost too pretty to eat, but not quite 🙂
These are just beautiful!!!
I used to eat cheese and pickled onion sandwiches when I was a kid!!! That grew up into cheese and caramelised onion sandwiches. I love your grown up version of a childhood favourite! And so cute stacked up 🙂
Thanks Claire. Mmm cheese and caramelised onion. I could do that!
When I saw the photo, I thought there was no way I could make this, but the recipe is so clear and the ingredients are ones I pretty much already have. This is so lovely – the flavor and texture combination is wonderful. Will definitely try this!
You wont be disappointed Mary. It is much simpler that it seems and so worth the little extra effort.
This sounds like a fantastic combination to me! I just recently got to appreciate beetroot but I think I would like this one!
Thank you for sharing!
Simon
Fresh cooked beetroot is absolutely the way to go Simon! The processed stuff cannot compare…and the combination with pear….oh so good.
LOVE the sounds of this salad….and I think it is perfect for company. Pretty and tasty!!
Thank you so much Gloria, I don’t often make “pretty” food so this is extra special 🙂
Wow! This salad looks awesome! I love all those ingredients and I can’t wait to try this combination!
Thanks Laura, I hope you enjoy it
This salad looks so fresh and flavorful! So badly needed after all the heavy Christmas day foods! Also, I’ve never had a beet and cheese sandwich before. I’m going to have to give that one a try… perhaps with cream cheese and microgreens. You know, the grown up version 😉
Its the taste of childhood – i like the cream cheese and greens take though
That salad looks fabulous Ange. I love that combination of ingredients. And how good is home-cooked beetroot and baby beats? We use them all the time and so good for. Nice job.
Thanks Mark. Baby beets are so tender and much much nicer than preprocessed.
Now that’s an interesting salad!! Love the combo, seriously. Never thought of it, but I’m sure it works really well! Took a note 😀
The flavours do go really well together and I think the addition of goat’s cheese to just about anything takes it to a whole new level!
Beautifully plated. If only I could grab one now 😀
Thank you Lisa – they were fun to assemble