An American Patzaria - Creamy Beet Spread with Blue Cheese and Bacon

By Savour, posted 6 months ago

As a child, I never had beets at home (my father claimed allergies -- a claim about which I remain highly skeptical), but I loved beets, and I always got them in the salad bar of my favorite restaurant. My childhood salads never varied -- they always had croutons, green onions, bacon bits and blue cheese dressing with the beets. As an adult, I encountered Patzaria, the Greek yogurt-based beet salad, and I decided to combine the flavors of my childhood salad bar with the Greek appetizer in this recipe. The result is salty, sweet, smoky and entirely addictive -- it makes a great and unexpected hors d'oeuvre.

Serves 3-4

• 2 medium beets
• 1 cup nonfat Greek style yogurt
• 1.5 ounces blue cheese, finely crumbled
• 2 pieces bacon
• 1 tablespoon chives, finely minced
• 3 pieces pita bread, lightly toasted

1. Scrub the beets, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, enclose in a foil packet and roast at 350 degrees for 40 minutes to an hour, or until tender. Let cool and chop into a fine dice.
2. Fry the bacon until crisp. Let cool, and chop finely.
3. Combine the yogurt and the blue cheese in a small bowl and mash with a fork until the cheese in incorporated into the yogurt.
4. Add the chopped beets, bacon and the chives. Mix thoroughly until the entire mixture is a rather alarming magenta hue (this actually helps convince 3 year old girls to eat it, believe it or not). The mixture may be covered and stored in the refrigerator right away, or eaten immediately.
5. Serve with toasted pita triangles. Enjoy.