Roasted Beet Salad with Blue Cheese Cream and Creamy Pistachio Vinaigrette

 

6 golden beets, about 1½ pounds

6 Chioggia beets, about 1½ pounds

¾ cup olive oil

1 cup dry white wine, plus more if needed

2 tsp. sea salt, preferably gray salt

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

 

4 ounces mascarpone at room temperature

4 ounces blue cheese at room temperature

¼ cup heavy cream

Pinch of sea salt, preferably gray salt

Light grind of black pepper

 

¼ cup Champagne vinegar

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

½ shallot, minced

2 tsp. minced fresh thyme

2 egg yolks, plus 1 more if needed

1 cup pistachio oil

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 T. ice water, if needed

½ tsp. sea salt, preferably gray salt

¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup pistachios, toasted

 

Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley forg arnish

1 T. minced fresh tarragon for garnish

Microgreens such as micro arugula for garnish (optional)

1 T. Champagne vinegar for drizzling

3 T. extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling

 

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wash the beets, cut off their tops and tails, and put them in a roasting pan. Pour the olive oil over the beets and then pour in enough white wine so at least half of each beet is under wine. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and roast for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a knife blade slips into a beet easily. Remove from the oven and set aside until cool to the touch. Slip the peels from the beets. When ready to serve, slice the beets into 11/2-inch chunks. (The chunks don’t have to be uniform for this salad.) In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cheeses and beat on low speed until blended. Add the cream, salt, and pepper and beat on medium speed until smooth. Continue adding whipping cream gradually until a desired creamy texture is developed (Note: if you like your blue cheese cream a little thinner, feel free to add additional cream, 1 Tbs at a time until you reach your desired texture). Set aside until ready to assemble salad. In a blender, whir together the vinegar, mustard, shallot, thyme, and egg yolks until smooth. With the machine running, add the pistachio oil and then the olive oil, 1 T. at a time. If the mixture gets too thick, add the 1 T. ice water. You may want to stop if your blender gets warm, because you don’t want your emulsion heated. (If the emulsion breaks, it’s easy to fix: Scrape the vinaigrette out of the blender and set it aside. Cool the blender container in cold water, add another egg yolk and a couple of ice cubes, and then gradually add the broken vinaigrette back to the blender with the machine running.) Season with the salt and pepper. Chill 6 salad plates, and spoon the vinaigrette into a squeeze bottle or a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip. Spoon about 2 T. of the blue cheese cream onto a chilled plate. Mound the beet chunks on top of the cream in an even mix of golden and Chioggia. Squeeze a circle of the vinaigrette around the periphery of the salad. Toss about a dozen toasted pistachios over the salad, very lightly sprinkle on the parsley and tarragon, and finish with a small mound of micro greens on the top if you like. Drizzle with vinegar and olive oil. Repeat for the other 5 salads.