Beets are awesome.

I am getting old.  No, I am not saying this because I am knocking on 30's door.  And no, it's not because I love to knit, watch Antiques Roadshow and drink hot tea at night.  It's because I have grown to love beets.  Until recently, the only other person I knew to have such affection for the ole beta vulgaris was my sweet little grandma.  She went to town on those burgundy colored roots.  She must have read in Prevention Magazine that they were a cure for something.  But, as luck would have it, I have grown to love them just as much as she did, and when I get a hankering for those dirt-tasting little duds, I turn to my fave website, Epicurious, and find a new way to dress it.  My last recipe was de-dang-licious.  When I work with beets, I love using the different colors.  They have red, golden, orange, white and red stripe...all types of jazzy colors.

Beet and Goat Cheese Salad with Pistachios

from Epicurious

Ingredients
3 large red beets (1 2/3 lb without greens)
2 large golden beets (1 lb without greens)
1/4 cup minced shallot
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup pistachio oil (I couldn't find pistachio oil, so I just used olive oil.)
4 oz soft mild goat cheese
3 tablespoons salted shelled pistachios (not dyed red), coarsely chopped
1 oz mâche (also called lamb's lettuce), trimmed (4 cups) (I just used arugula.)

Special equipment: a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter (without handle; at least 2 inches high)

Directions
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Separately wrap red and golden beets tightly in double layers of foil and roast in middle of oven until tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Unwrap beets.
While beets are cooling slightly, whisk together shallot, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, then add oil in a stream, whisking.
When beets are cool enough to handle, slip off and discard skins. Separately cut red and golden beets into 1/4-inch dice and put in separate bowls. Add 2 1/2 tablespoons dressing to each bowl and toss to coat.
Place cookie cutter in center of 1 of 8 salad plates. Put one eighth of red beets in cutter and pack down with your fingertips. Crumble 2 teaspoons goat cheese on top, then one eighth of golden beets, packing them down. Gently lift cutter up and away from stack. Make 7 more servings in same manner. Drizzle each plate with 1 teaspoon dressing and scatter with some pistachios.
Toss mâche with just enough remaining dressing to coat and gently mound on top of beets. Serve immediately.

Cooks' notes: Beets can be roasted and diced 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before using. • Molded beet salad (without mâche) can be assembled 45 minutes ahead and kept, covered, at cool room temperature.