Tasty beetroot salad in romesco sauce

Barbabietole rosse con salsa di noci
For some reason south Italian supermarkets only sell precooked, shrink wrapped beetroots, which places the vegetable in a rather exotic light. Still raw or almost raw beets taste great in a salad, like this one with walnut dressing and fresh, soft goat cheese.

Serve the salad as a side dish with poultry or meat or as a starter with a nice selection of ‘affetati misti’, but please note that the salad can be quite dominating.

Ingredients
3 medium sized beetroots

12 walnuts
1 clove garlic
1 tomato
1 roasted red pepper
½ del balsamic vinegar
½ olive oil
1 peperoncino

100 g fresh, soft goat cheese (caprino), ricotta or feta.

Preparation
Clean and peel the beetroots under running water.
Boil them for 5 minutes (- the raw vegetable is too hard and difficult to work with and eat).
Slice the beetroot in ultra thin slices.
Blend tomato, roasted and peeled pepper, garlic, walnuts and peperoncino, olive oil and vinegar to a smooth paste. Add salt and more oil and vinegar to taste.
Fold beetroot slices in the dressing and leave it to rest in the fridge for a couple of hours.
Garnish with white cheese before serving.