Artichoke heart salad with roasted beets

Ingredients

Salad
2 bunches of beets, assorted colors such as red, gold or champagne (approximately 6 to 9 beets)
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
4 tbsp. water
3 tbsp. salt
1 can artichoke hearts, halved (approximately 12 artichoke hearts)
3 oz. mache lettuce
Sea salt and pepper (to taste)

Sunchoke chips
1 lb. sunchokes (also known as Jerusalem artichokes)
3 cups canola oil

Candied Buddha's hand
1 Buddha's hand
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp. salt
2 Meyer lemons, juiced

Champagne vinaigrette
1 tbsp. champagne vinegar
1 tsp. minced shallot
1/4 tsp. minced garlic
3 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

For beets: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Clean beets. Remove leaves, but leave 1/2 inch of the stems on. Place each color of beet in a separate baking pouch made of aluminum foil, then transfer pouches to a shallow baking pan. This process will ensure that beets of one color aren't stained by beets of another color. Place 1 tbsp. oil and 2 tbsp. water into each pouch. Sprinkle each with 1 1/2 tbsp. salt. Cover pan tightly with foil and roast for 45 to 60 minutes or until you can insert a knife into the beets with ease. Let cool to room temperature. Once cooled, take a towel and remove the skins. Slice beets into halves or quarters and refrigerate until ready to use.

For sunchoke chips: Wash and peel sunchokes and slice on a mandolin so that they are slightly transparent. Soak in water to remove starch and reduce the risk of oxidation. Place oil in a tall saucepot with at least 5 inches from the top of the oil to the top of the pot. Using a candy thermometer, bring oil to 325 degrees and adjust the heat in order to keep it at this temperature for at least 5 minutes. Strain water from sunchokes and pat dry with a towel. Try to remove as much excess water as possible to prevent splattering. Fry sunchokes in small batches to reduce the risk of the oil temperature dropping too much. Fry until they are golden in color. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and place on a cooling rack. While still warm, season with salt. Let cool, then store in an airtight container at room temperature.

For Buddha's hand: Slice fruit lengthwise to 1/4-inch thickness. Place in a stainless steel saucepot with sugar, salt and lemon juice and cover with water. Cook on low heat until the rind turns from white to translucent. Once translucent, remove from heat and let cool completely in the liquid. Reserve and chill in the refrigerator.  

For vinaigrette: Add shallot and garlic to vinegar and mix well.  Drizzle in olive oil and blend.  Season with salt and pepper.

To serve: Place mache, beets, artichokes, sunchokes and Buddha's hand on plate. Drizzle with vinaigrette and season with sea salt and pepper.

Serves 2.