Baby Beets with Goat Cheese and Fennel Recipe

I love beets. You would kind of guess that from a guy who named his restaurant The Little Beet. Here, I combine beets richly purple and deeply golden with crisp, paper-thin shaved fennel, goat cheese, mint, and dill. The crunchy fennel adds snap, but just as important, its light licorice flavor brings out the sweetness of the beets. Mint does too. That makes them ideal partners for beets, which are known for their sugar content. This is a great winter salad because the colors and textures make it feel fresh as a spring breeze.