I’ve had this recipe saved in my bookmarks for a very long time, and I was too excited to finally make it. I love beets and have been used to the convenience of canned versions. But from a can,  beets lose their crunchy texture and you serve yourself some sodium and BPA you can certainly spare.

The only problem with fresh beets is the stains they leave on your fingers. Wear gloves if you have a meeting to go to in the next hour or two. With frequent washing, the red will disappear before you know it.

Goat Cheese Croquettes

Instead of topping the salad with crumbed goat cheese, I wanted to make goat cheese croquettes. Most of the recipes I found call for panko, which is a Japanese style bread crumb thicker than western style bread crumbs. It’s touted for producing a lighter fried product that won’t absorb as much oil. It should be available in Asian stores, but I was mentally ready to eat this salad and couldn’t wait another hour to go buy panko. So, I ended up using regular bread crumbs combined with dried parsley flakes.

I don’t have exact ingredients. I started with a 4-ounce log of goat cheese, made 1/2-inch thick slices, patted them to hold shape, dipped each one in a beaten egg, and then in bread crumbs. I fried the croquettes in canola oil until golden.

The croquettes were good but I’ve certainly had better ones in restaurants. Maybe I should have used panko!

The salad

I tried to follow the recipe from A to Z but had to have my variations.  I used apple cider vinegar instead of red wine vinegar, had red beats only, and my greens were a package of baby lettuce, baby arugula, and baby spinach combined with the greens from the fresh beets. How to use beet greens? Simple. Just remove the thick veins, wash, chop, and toss with rest of greens. One last change, I tossed the roasted beets with half of the dressing and tossed the greens with the rest.

If you like beets, check out this spinach arugula salad I make with beets.

Have any beet recipes you like? Share in comments section!–Happy Thursday!