Beet Salad with Pistachios and Goat Cheese

A while back I wrote a post about how to make pickled beets. I love pickled beets. I like eating them plain, but…I had a HUGE jar of them leftover. And you can only eat so many plain pickled beets…am I right? I was inspired to make this beet, goat cheese, and pistachio salad by a restaurant called The Purple Pig.When my husband and  I visited Chicago a couple of years ago, we stumbled across this awesome restaurant called The Purple Pig. I had randomly seen something about it The Purple Pig our in-hotel magazine (you know the generic “welcome to the city” magazine that every hotel seems to have), so we decided to try it.

And it was magnificent.

The restaurant specializes in wine and cheese as well as seasonal dishes served tapas style. My husband and I split the JLT (that’s a pig jowl, lettuce and tomato sandwich), fried smashed potatoes, and a beet salad with goat cheese and pistachios.

Everything was super delicious, but I especially loved the beet salad. I knew I had to try my hand at it, so since I had a surplus of beets, I figured now was as good a time as any.

I found The Purple Pig’s recipe online and adapted it to my own tastes. I believe the beet salad at The Purple Pig used salt roasted beets and I, of course, used pickled beets. I also made the vinaigrette a bit differently, and combined the ingredients differently as well.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound pickled beets (sliced or quartered)
• 5 ounces goat cheese
• 1/3 cup pistachios, chopped
• 1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano

Directions:

To make vinaigrette mix red wine vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil, oregano, 1 teaspoon pepper and 1 teaspoon salt. Toss pickled beets in vinaigrette and set aside.

Combine goat cheese, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1/4 cup olive oil, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to make whipped goat cheese topping.

Separate beets into 2-4 bowls (depending on how large you want your servings to be). Top with whipped goat cheese and pistachios.

Enjoy!