Beet Napoleons: Patience Required

If you like to thread needles or tweeze fine hairs from your chin (sorry, gross), then maybe this should be your next project.
It requires a lot of patience.

I love to roast beets, it's very soul satisfying, though slicing them super thin and spreading them with cheese is another story.

I buy these amazing organic beets from a farmer in Princeton, NJ.
He is very proud of his beets and does something to the soil to make them taste so yummy. I am happy to buy them from him weekly, even though truth be told, I have too many beets in my fridge.

Maybe I need a root cellar.

The only negative I can say about beets is that they give off a strange metallic smell when roasting them that takes a day to get rid of. And red beets do stain anything they come in contact with.
But it's worth it in the end because there is nothing like roasted beets!

I use them in salads with feta cheese and walnuts, beet carpaccio w/ oranges and mint and borscht is in the works.

This recipe for Beet Napoleons was inspired by Wolfgang Puck.
Supposedly, this is his restaurant Spago's most ordered salad.

Patience and time is needed for this recipe, but it's worth the effort.

Start with 2 color beets (if you are lucky enough to find them: yellow, red or pink).

Roast them wrapped in foil, drizzled w/ olive oil and kosher salt for an hour at 400F (more time if they are larger in size).



Wait for them to cool and peel the skins.

Slice them super thin and set them aside on a cutting board.

Layer a shmear of good goat cheese in between the beet slices, alternating colors.
The red ones will bleed into the goat cheese, so you can't make these too far in advance.



After you have about 6 slices of beets and 3 layers of goat cheese, press the stacks down and slice them in half.

You can serve them speared with toothpicks & mint leaves, drizzled with white balsamic vinegar and olive oil........



or you can arrange them on a bed of arugula and drizzle w/ a vinaigrette and toasted chopped hazelnuts.



Enjoy!