Watermelon and Roasted Baby Beets Salad with Goat Cheese and Fennel

Start your pink menu with a pink and green salad. Thinly sliced watermelon makes a bed for rosy baby beets and tangy goat cheese. You’ll love the combination of flavors-sweet, juicy, earthy and creamy.

Makes 6 servings.

Ingredients

• 3 small golden beets
• 3 small red or candy stripe beets
• Six – 1½-inch thick wedges of watermelon
• ½ small fennel bulb, very thinly sliced
• 3 ounces sharp, crumbly goat or feta cheese
• Basil Balsamic Dressing (recipe follows)

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Wash the beets, and trim, but do not peel. Set the beets in a small roasting pan and bake until tender.
3. Cool the beets, peel, and cut into quarters or slices. Toss with a ¼ cup of the Basil Dressing and set aside to marinate.
4. Cut the rind from the watermelon slices and cut the watermelon into 1-inch pieces.
5. Top watermelon with beets and scatter the fennel over the salad. Crumble the goat cheese over the beets. Serve more Basil Dressing on the side.
6. Variation: a few tiny leaves of tat soi or arugula look pretty scattered over the salad.

Recipe courtesy of Rancho la Puerta