I love when I get new recipes from Chef’s around the country. Whether it’s one of my “recipe souvenirs” or just something seasonal such as this great fall salad recipe. This one comes from Travaasa in Austin, Texas, where they really infuse local culture in their resort activities by offering harmonica serenading lessons, Texas two-step dancing classes and a mechanical bull riding fitness class. Yes, I said mechanical bull riding fitness classes (I need to check those out!). Sounds a little like the movie City Slickers, eh?
Now, Texans are known for doing everything BIG. So it comes as no surprise that this seemingly simple recipe was a little more to tackle then I planned. Let me just say that I now fully understand the reason beet juice is used for food coloring. After prepping these beets I had hot pink fingers for a day. Learn from my mistake … use a towel or gloves when you’re slicing them. While the ingredients are delicious and simple, the prep work does take some time. But this autumn inspired root vegetable salad is so worth it!
Carmelized Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Salad
2 large sweet potatoes
3 large beets
1 bunch cilantro
½ cup sunflower seeds
1 lemon (for juice and zest)
1 cup oil (a blend of canola and olive is ideal)
5 oz goat cheese
Bake sweet potatoes and beets until just tender. Remove skin and slice into disks.
Slice a 5 oz log of goat cheese into eight pieces.
Blend 1 bunch of cilantro, ½ cup of sunflower seeds, oil and the juice plus zest of one lemon to make cilantro oil. Caramelize the sweet potato disks and season with salt and pepper.
Place one slice of sweet potato, one slice of beet root, and one slice of goat cheese shingled out onto a salad plate. Repeat once more. Garnish with lemon zest, and serve with cilantro oil.
Okay, so this reminds me of a high school math class. Trigonometry, to be exact. On the first day of class, the teacher handed out our books. They were all brand new books that year, very exciting! He told us to turn to a certain page, go down five lines, write in an asterisk *, and then next to the asterisk * write “TAMO.” He then had us write another asterisk * at the bottom of the page, next to which we were to write “Then A Miracle Occurred.” You see, the math book people had left out some critical information and getting from one line to the next, without that critical information, required a miracle.
My point being: HOW THE HECK DO I CARAMELIZE THE SWEET POTATO DISKS? You’re talking to an amateur here. The recipe looks great, can’t wait to try it!!
LOL! You’re comment just cracked me up. Basically, just sautee the sweet potato disks in a saucepan. They’ll soften. That’s all. No magic. The reason for baking them before hand is so that you can cut the hard suckers into disks in the first place. Same with the beets. Definitely give it a try!
This looks so pretty and it sounds delicious. I love anything with goat cheese, I’ll have to give this recipe a try.
I am a sucker for goat cheese, and I don’t have an oven but I can get around that obstacle to make this. I might have to try it real soon. It looks delicious!
I’m a huge fan of goat cheese too! If you don’t have an oven, look for sliced canned beets to use. Sweet potatoes can be softened a bit in a microwave and then sauteed. Or, if you don’t have a microwave, just cook the sweet potatoes on low/med heat in a sauce pan with a cover. Let me know if you try the recipe. =)