A little Halloween gore?

Nope. It's just that I hopped on that beet salad bandwagon. Tejal, Tom Colicchio, all the cool kids are doing it.

What little wonders beets are. The sweetest vegetables on the planet that taste great with the stinkiest of blue cheeses. A fantastic, princess pink color and a fantastic dirt taste. What can't that little root do?

Well, it can't peel itself, that's for sure. I've read a lot lately that it's easier to roast the beets then scrap off the peel. And it's true, that soft roasted skin slides right off. The problem is that after a beet comes out of a 425 degree oven, both it and it's skin are finger-searingly warm. So having done it both ways, I've decided that I prefer to peel prior to roasting. If I'm serious about not staining my hands, I'll peel in a sink of cool water. But I usually don't mind a little pinkening.

Plus, I really think they taste better this way. If you roast with skin, all the good flavor of olive oil, salt, herbs, balsamic and whatever else you roasted them with gets scraped away. When roasted denuded of peel, all those lovely flavors infuse the little roots, making them fragrant and sometimes gently caramelized around the edges. Ready for salads or side dishes, or even greedy snacks with pink-stained fingers.