Roasted Beet and Blood Orange Salad with Arugula, Macadamia Nuts, and Goats-Milk Dressing

This is a new recipe for us courtesy of the New Brooklyn Cookbook.  The dish originally comes from Five Leaves, a restaurant that was (surprisingly) originally envisioned as a collaboration between Heath Ledger and his friend and countryman Jud Mongell.  It did not come to fruition in Ledger's lifetime, but the idea survived and brings us this meal today.

This is one of those dishes that requires a time commitment and can easily appear frustrating, but if you tackle it one step at a time and realize that you aren't about to eat fast food it is not all that complicated.  I'd suggest getting a nice bottle of wine and meandering through preparation (which is almost always my advice.)

Ingredients:

For the Beets
3 medium red beets, stems and root ends removed*
2 medium golden beets, stems and root ends removed*
1 fresh thyme sprig**
1 fresh rosemary sprig**
2 garlic heads, broken into cloves, skins on, lightly crushed
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 cups course salt

For the Yogurt Dressing
6 ounces goats-milk yogurt
Grated zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon honey***
Pinch of cayenne pepper

For the Vinaigrette
2 shallots, peeled
1/4 cup sherry vinegar****
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
3/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup whole macadamia nuts
6 ounces baby arugula (about 4 cups)
3 blood oranges

*what was available to us was one giant golden beet, we substituted this as the only beet used.  I don't think this will dramatically change the flavor, but will diminish the color of the dish.

**our supply of fresh herbs was lacking so I substituted what we had on hand ???.

***we substituted a tablespoon of agave nectar

****what we had in the pantry was red wine vinegar, I used this with no idea of how the flavors might be affected

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Wash the beets then toss with the herbs, garlic, olive oil, and a pinch of salt.  Cover the bottom of an 8 x 8 baking pan with the 2 cups salt.  Set the beets, herbs, and garlic on top of the salt, cover the dish with foil, and bake until the beets are tender when pierced with a knife (about 1 hour and 15 minutes.)
3. Allow the beets to cool, then peel and cut into wedges.  Reserve half of one red beet for the vinaigrette.
4. To Make the Yogurt Dressing: combine the yogurt, zest, honey, and cayenne in a small bowl.
5. To Make the Vinaigrette: in a food processor puree the shallots and the roasted red beet half with the vinegar and mustard.  With the motor running, add the olive oil in a slow stream, blending until emulsified.
6. Place the macadamia nuts in a shallow baking dish in a single layer.  Bake for 3 to 5 minutes,  shaking the pan once half way through to evenly brown.  Allow to cool slightly, then roughly chop.
7. Combine the beets with half the yogurt mixture in a medium bowl and toss to coat.  In another bowl, toss the arugula with the beet vinaigrette to coat.
8. To Serve: divide the beets and blood orange slices on plates, top with the arugula, and garnish with the macadamias and a drizzle of the remaining yogurt dressing.