Roasted beet salad with coriander mascarpone and beet vinaigrette

Ingredients

Beets
4 medium red beets
3 medium gold beets
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 bunch thyme
1 cup water
Salt and pepper, to taste

Coriander mascarpone
1/2 cup mascarpone
1/2 tbsp. ground coriander
1/2 tbsp. lemon zest
1/2 tbsp. orange zest
Salt and white pepper, to taste
2 tbsp. heavy cream

Vinaigrette and to serve
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup purslane, washed and broken down
into small flowers (can substitute baby arugula)
2 tbsp. olive oil

Directions

For beets: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove tops from beets; trim and wash thoroughly. Place beets in a large roasting pan and cover with olive oil, thyme and water; season generously with salt and pepper. Cover and roast for 45 minutes or until a knife easily penetrates a beet. Remove pan from oven and let beets cool to room temperature. Remove skins from beets (reserve 1 red beet for vinaigrette) and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Keep red beets separate from gold beets.

For mascarpone: In a small bowl, combine mascarpone, coriander and zest. Season with salt and white pepper. Stir in cream to thin the mixture; set aside.

For vinaigrette: Puree reserved beet and vinegar in a blender, adding a little water if needed to ensure a smooth consistency. Add canola oil while blending at medium speed. Season with salt; set aside.

To serve: Using a pastry brush, "paint" the vinaigrette down the length of a serving plate in one long swipe. Place red beets and remaining vinaigrette in a medium bowl; stir to combine. Arrange beets on top of the vinaigrette swipe. Rinse bowl and combine gold beets with purslane; add olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and place gold beets between red beets. Scatter purslane on top with several small dollops of mascarpone.

Serves 6