Please note this is a sponsored post
For this month’s Dinner Party for 2, I went all in on beets, in partnership with R.W. Knudsen. I’m sharing the full menu and the table setup below.
Beets get a bad rap I think, but they are in season right now and wildly underrated. They’re beautiful, good for your heart and liver, and always surprise me with how versatile they are. Roasted and sweet, shaved and sharp, blended into something bright and punchy. They do a lot.
As for the menu pairing - beets love fennel. The sweetness and earthiness of the beets against that sharp, almost licorice-y crunch just works. So fennel shows up twice on this menu. Shaved over the meatballs for brightness and again in the salad to tie it back. Citrus brings everything together and works well with both the fennel and the beets: blood orange with the beets, lemon in the fennel, and again in the drink. Then we get richness from the burrata, acid from the vinegar, crunch from the pistachios. It’s the same notes repeated in different ways, which feels thoughtful without being complicated.
Repeating one ingredient in a few different ways makes the whole thing feel thought out without too much work, and the shortcuts keep it realistic.
The meatball sandwich
I used my go to make ahead meatballs (from frozen) reheated gently in tomato sauce to save time (click the link for the full how to including reheating)
toast thick slices of really good cheesy herb focaccia and use that as the base.
spoon over the saucy meatballs
finish with burrata (or ricotta)
a simple fennel (or arugula) salad: shaved fennel or arugula, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper
truffle salt
It’s rich, bright, creamy, crunchy and burrata really takes it over the top. Exactly what you want.
Roasted beet and blood orange salad
This is where the theme really shows up. It looks dramatic, but it’s just slicing and layering. It’s also great leftover so make extra!
If you’re roasting your own beets (I usually do this at the beginning of the week and use them in salads throughout the week. You can absolutely use pre-cooked beets if that’s easier).
Wash, wrap in foil, and roast at 450°F for about 45 minutes, or until tender
Let cool, peel, and slice
For the salad:
2 large yellow beets, thinly sliced
2 large red beets, thinly sliced
2 blood oranges, thinly sliced
Layer them on a plate and top with:
a little more shaved fennel (plus the green fronds)
olive oil
salt and pepper
splash of white wine or champagne vinegar
crushed pistachios
The surprising beet mocktail (or cocktail)
Earthy, citrusy, bright. It tastes like it took more effort than it did and ties the meal together perfectly.
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz blood orange juice
pinch of salt
1 oz gin (optional)
Shake over ice and strain into a glass. Top with seltzer.
The tablescape
I kept it simple to let the beets really pop. Black white and green, and some really cute glasses to make drinking a mocktail feel fancier. Find everything I used here.
Let me know if you make the dinner party for 2 this month!