Goat Cheese and Roasted Beet Parfait with Candied Walnuts and Spicy Market Greens
Source: Chef/Partner Mark Dommen, One Market Restaurant.
Recipe Type: Appetizers and Sides | Seasons: Summer
Part of CUESA’s 2nd Annual Goat Fest. This recipe was demonstrated at CUESA’s Market to Table program on April 17, 2010.
This recipe comes two ways. The first is a fancy presentation that Mark uses at One Market Restaurant and would be impressive to serve at a dinner party, the other is as a traditional salad.
INGREDIENTS
4 medium red beets
4 medium golden beets
Rock salt or kosher salt to cover one half size sheet pan
2 sheets gelatin
1 cup fresh goat cheese, plus 3 ounces
1 cup goat milk yogurt
¼ cup goat milk
1 teaspoon xanthum gum
Salt, to taste
Pinch cayenne pepper
⅓ cup Marshall’s Farm honey, plus ¼ cup honey
⅓ cup sherry vinegar
⅓ cup DaVero Meyer lemon olive oil
1 cup walnuts
½ teaspoon espelette chili
½ teaspoon wild fennel pollen
Chives, finely minced, for garnish
Fresh thyme leaves, minced for garnish
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
Spicy baby market greens (such as arugula or cress), for garnish
Dry style goat cheese, to shave for garnish
PREPARATION
- Prepare the beets: Preheat oven to 400º. Spread a thick layer of the rock or kosher salt on a sheet pan and place the beets on top of the salt. Place in oven and roast until you can insert a toothpick into the beet with little resistance. This will take an hour to an hour and a half. Remove from the oven and set aside until cool enough to handle. Turn oven down to 300º.
- Meanwhile, begin preparing the goat cheese mousse. Soak the gelatin sheets in a bowl of ice water. In another bowl, combine 1 cup goat cheese with the yogurt and mix well. Gently heat the goat milk in a small pot. Remove the gelatin sheets from the ice water and squeeze out any excess water. Add to the milk and stir to incorporate until they melt. Add the milk mixture to the blender with the xanthum gum and blend to combine. Add the cheese and yogurt to the blender and blend to combine. Season to taste with salt and a pinch of cayenne. Add the mixture to a professional whip cream canister (like the iSi brand) and give it two charges of CO2. Set aside.
- Make the vinaigrette to marinate the beets. Combine ⅓ cup honey with the sherry vinegar and lemon oil and mix well. Season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Set aside.
- Make the candied walnuts. In a mixing bowl, combine the walnuts with ¼ cup honey, the espelette pepper, wild fennel pollen, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Mix well, it will be a very sticky glob, but that’s fine. Line a half sheet pan with a silpat or parchment paper and spread the nuts out evenly over the top. Place into the 300º oven for 15-20 minutes until the honey caramelizes on the walnuts. You will need to stir the walnuts every 5 minutes or so as you bake them so that the honey caramelizes evenly. Pull out of the oven and, once cool, separate the walnuts if they are stuck together.
- Peel the cool beets, the skin should come easily away from the flesh by pulling with your hands, or use a small knife. Keeping each color separate, dice them into ¼-inch dice for the parfait. They can be left larger if you are making a more traditional salad. Place each color of beet into a mixing bowl and toss with half the vinaigrette. Allow to marinate for as long as possible so the beets absorb the vinaigrette. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Plating the dish: To plate it like a parfait in a glass, you will need six 6-ounce rocks glasses. Divide the last 3 ounces of goat cheese into six equal portions. Sprinkle with chives and fresh thyme. This goes into the bottom of the glass, then divide the red beets among the six glasses. Next a layer of goat cheese foam from the whip cream canister followed by a layer of golden beets and then another layer of goat cheese foam. I like to level off the foam with the rim of the glass but that is not necessary. Top with a layer of candied walnuts and some spicy baby market greens. Finally, it’s all topped off with some shaved goat cheese. To plate as a traditional salad, combine marinated beets, 3 ounces goat cheese chives, thyme and greens in a salad bowl, toss to combine. Shoot the goat cheese foam from the CO2 canister into a glass, chill it, and then make quenelles for the top of the salad by running your spoon gently across the top of the foam, rolling it into a ball or oval shape as you go and placing on top of the salad.
- Season to taste with more salt and pepper and drizzle with more olive oil, as needed. Garnish with thinly shaved dry goat cheese and serve.
