And now for something completely unpolitical: beets

It happens to involve beets, but any resemblance to topical subjects, including presidential root-vegetable bias, is purely coincidental.

I used to have the same opinion of beets as a certain world leader who shall not be named here. As a kid, my big sister got me to try one of the pickled purple discs.

"It's a cookie," she said.

It was not a cookie.

And I wanted nothing to do with them until I was in my 40s, in Whole Foods and in front of Donald, the cheese guy in Harbor East. He was serving up little tastes of a salad made with beets, oranges, fennel, hazelnuts and goat cheese feta. Unlike big sister, Donald had never steered me wrong. So I gave his salad a try. Yum!

I went straight back to the produce section and made my first-ever beet purchase. I even grow my own beets these days just so I can make this salad.

The recipe:

Red and Golden Beets with Orange, Fennel, Hazelnuts and Goat Feta Cheese

2 large yellow beets (all but 1 inch of top removed; leave tail)

2 large red beets

6 tablespoons olive oil

4 Mineola or navel oranges

1 fennel bulb, cut into paper-thin slices

1/4 cup fresh mint and Italian parsley, finely chopped

1/4 cup hazelnuts, halved

1 shallot, minced

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Salt and white pepper to taste

1 1/4 cups crumbled goat milk feta or goat cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees and place olive-oil rubbed beets in tin foil. Roast until tender (about 90 minutes). When beets are cool, peel and cut into 1/2 inch-cubes. Place in a large bowl, separating colors. (May be done a day ahead. Store refrigerated.)

Bring beets to room temperature. Peel and segment oranges, removing membranes. Collect any juice that runs out. Add fennel, mint, parsley, hazelnuts, shallots and 1 cup of orange segments in the bowl with the beets. Place 2 teaspoons of orange juice in a small bowl and whisk vinegar and 2 tablespoons of olive oil to make dressing. Add to beets and stir. Top with orange segments and sprinkle with cheese.

Recipe credit: Whole Foods

Photo by math-hubby