Roasted Beets & Watermelon Salad

Preheat oven to 400ºF/200ºC. Beets can also be steamed whole for 25 to 35 minutes (In this case use water and orange peel only). Toss all ingredients (except the water) to coat beets. Place in a shallow baking dish, add water and cover with foil. Roast beets for 45 minutes or until they are cooked through. Remove from oven, uncover, let cool to room temperature. Trim off tops and bottoms, peel beets and cut into desired shapes such as squares, wedges, cubes and slices… Wrap beets cuts and refrigerate.

Marinade for one watermelon sheet: Place each sheet of watermelon in cryovac bag, add lime juice and mint; vacuum seal. Refrigerate for 1 hour at least to compress and saturate the watermelon with flavor. Remove from bag, discard marinade and herbs. Cut each watermelon sheet into desired shapes using a large knife or fancy cookie cutters and drain over paper towels before plating.

Cryovac fresh raspberries and cook at 185ºF/85ºC for 12 minutes or bring water to a simmer, plunge the bag into the hot water, turn off the flame and let cook for 12 minutes; the temperature of the water will drop slowly. Transfer bag to ice water. Emulsify with oil first, then vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Peel off golden, and shave beets (Use a mandolin and reserve shavings in ice water to make them crispier). Dress cooked and raw beets with hazelnut or peanut oil. Place compressed watermelon cuts along with beets on each plate. Arrange golden beet shavings, cheeses, toasted hazelnuts, fresh dill, and mint. Drizzle with raspberry vinaigrette. Enjoy!