Beets! I have become very fond of this ingredient over the years and has been a staple of many of my menus for a long time. I use them with salads, lobsters (Hot and Cold), halibut, salmon, canapes, terrines and soups. Beets are great for making good margins and balancing out your food cost. Andrew Carmellini first showed me how to properly handle them when I started working at Cafe Boulud years ago. I roast them on a bed of salt at 350 for about 2 hour or until fork tender. However, this all depends on the beets size and if there are all uniform in size. I am using Red Ace Beets today, however there are numerous variety's from farmers all over Southern California including candy cane and golden beets. Typically, the structure for beet salads consist of a variety of Beet, Cheese, Nut, Fruit and a Green. I used a goat cheese thinned out with a touch of cream and seasoned with shallots, tarragon, chive and lemon juice. I used toasted sliced almonds, asian pear and garnished with corn shoots and micro celery. I use a lot of sherry and herb infused vinegars when it comes to any of my sauces to go with any of my beet salads. In this dish I used an infused red wine reduction with the scraps of shallots, tarragon and asian pear. I balanced out the reduction with sherry vinegar, honey and almond oil. I always believe that one of the quality's that defines a great chef is how he can take an everyday staple and turn it into something spectacular and completely transformed. JM
