Salad with Warm Mustard Beets and Goat Cheese; This and Next

Having a light vegetable dish for a first course is an easy way to help get your ‘five-a-day’ of vegetables.

Plus, starters can be fun, frivolous and ever so slightly decadent (’cause they’re small).

There’s something about beets and goat cheese that make them such a good pairing.

The only combination we like better is warm beets with warm goat cheese.

Add a nice tossed salad made with just picked lettuce and a light vinaigrette for a delicious first course or light lunch.

Salad with Warm Mustard Beets and Goat Cheese

15 minutes/span>

Ingredients:

Instructions:

The Beets:

In a small saucepan, combine mustards, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce and water. Heat to boiling

Add beets, cover and simmer 5 minutes.

Uncover and remove from heat. Allow to cool slightly.

The Salad:

Whisk together vinegar and mustard.

Slowly add olive oil, whisking constantly until vinaigrette is thick and creamy.

Add about half to the lettuce and toss well. Taste, add more dressing as desired.

Arrange salad on 2 plates.

The Goat Cheese:

Slice the cheese into 1/3″ (1cm) thick slices.

Put olive oil on one small plate and crumbs on another.

Dip both sides of cheese slices in oil, then crumbs.

Place cheese slices on a nonstick baking sheet. Bake, 400F (200C) for 2 – 3 minutes, just until they start to melt.

Remove from oven and place half the slices on each salad.

Spoon beets next to salad and serve.

Sometimes, mon mari and I have the same conversation…. many, many, many times.

At our French conversation group last night we were talking about summer festivals.

There are two that I want to go to next weekend. I had learned about them in my French class on Tuesday and told mon mari about them Tuesday night.

It’s important that you remember that it was Tuesday night.

Last night mon mari was telling our French friends that we were going to one of the festivals on Saturday – tomorrow.

I said: no, the festival is next Saturday, the 6th, not this Saturday, the 29th.

He said: but you told me (on Tuesday) that it was next weekend!

I said: it is – next weekend, not this weekend.

I turned to one of the French women and asked if she understood. She said, of course: next weekend is the weekend after this weekend.

Simple!

Mon mari and I have had this argument discussion in the past (about a million times)

To mon mari, next weekend (or next Tuesday, next Sunday, etc.) is the one immediately in the future. If today is Friday, two days from now is next Sunday.

To me, the weekend (or Tuesday, Sunday, etc) in the immediate future is this weekend (or this coming weekend) and the one following is next weekend. If today is Friday, two days from now is this Sunday and one week and two days from now is next Sunday.

It’s not that difficult.

Usually, when I tell mon mari about upcoming events I give him the date as well.

This isn’t new….. Mon mari should, after all these years of marriage, understand what I mean.

In fairness, one could argue that, knowing he consistently misunderstands me, I could be more explicit.

Well…..

Where would the fun be in that?

I know what my plans are.

If he can’t be bothered to listen more carefully, he can continue to be surprised.

How do you express this, apparently, difficult concept of time?

Last Updated on June 28, 2013