A great New Years Eve with a great beet salad!

It was a gorgeous day in Denver and I spent most of it cooking and getting ready for the big New Year's Eve feast.  

For one of the hors d'oeuvres, I made a creamy chicken liver pate (see my post dated February 20, 2012 for the recipe).

I also served Swedish pancakes (that I had bought at IKEA and they are great) with caviar and creme fraiche.  The pancakes come frozen.  You bake them for 20 minutes and then fry them on each side for 2 minutes each.
For dinner, we started with a small bowl of French onion soup (recipe to follow in a few days), then a roasted beet salad, butternut squash ravioli (that I had made a few Saturdays ago) with a brown butter, sage, pistachio and amaretto cookie sauce and beef tenderloin. For dessert I made a decadent chocolate gelato.

ROASTED BEET & GOAT CHEESE SALAD WITH SHERRY VINAIGRETTE

2 large red beets
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 cup granulated sugar
5 ounces goat cheese
2 ounces mascarpone
greens of your choice: pea shoots, arugula, watercress
1/4 cup roasted pine nuts

In pot with salted water, boil beets until fork tender.  Remove beets from pan, let cool and cut skins off.  Cut into large bite size pieces.  Refrigerate.

Reserve 1 cup of the beet liquid.  Add the pomegranate juice and sugar, stir and boil until liquid is reduced by half or until thickened but not too a caramelized state.  Cover and chill in refrigerator.

Mix goat cheese with the mascarpone.  Season with salt and pepper.

Toss the beets with some extra virgin olive oil and sherry vinegar.  Salt and pepper to taste.

To plate: Using a pastry brush, paint a few brush strokes of the beet/pomegranate reduction on the center of each individual salad plate.  Top with the greens, then a few pieces of the beets and 3 dollops of the cheese mixture.  Sprinkle with the pine nuts and serve.

Serves 4 - 6 people.