Better Beets Elder(berry)

Elderberry Plum Jam (a winter seasonal from V Smiley Preserves) gives beets and red wine new life.

A classic salad, reborn.

Beets and blue cheese are a classic dish. Whenever I think of it, my brother's autumn wedding dinner comes to mind. The beet salad was my favorite dish of the meal. I love vegetable dishes and I really love using V Smiley Preserves less sweet and savory preserves to create one of a kind plates.

We are taking Nicolaus Balla's recipe, tweaking it slightly around the edges and serving the salad on a slim shmear of Elderberry Plum Jam.

Slight tweaks:
1) skip the brown sugar in the vinaigrette (because we are lending that sweet balance via the preserves)
2) instead of crumbling the blue cheese and folding the pieces into the salad, do this and show off that beautiful blue veining of the cheese: use a good knife (a slicer style is nice for this because then cheese doesn't stick to your blade), take thin sheets off your hunk of blue cheese (like you see in the picture above).
3. spread your thin layer of jam down on the plate or platter, then start assembling...spoon down some beets with their herbs, nest a slice of blue cheese up against it, then more beets, lean some blue against the vegetables and slowly fill in your elderberry shmear
4. finish with a spritz of lemon juice, Maldon salt to taste sprinkled on top.
5. make sure your pepper is fresh (people are starry eyed for this stuff) or kick it up a notch a use a little chili flake in your vinaigrette instead.