Linguine Pasta in Beet Sauce

Beet sauce isn't your average pasta sauce. Instead of using the usual boring tomato sauce, I created a sauce made of colorful beets. First, they were boiled, then blended into a smooth purée with caramelized fennel, fromage blanc, crumbled goat cheese and rosemary. I used the vibrant sauce as a a great way to mask the fact that I was serving whole wheat pasta. Our family prefers regular pasta, but I used wheat pasta for its good nutritional value. I find that the types of wheat pasta with the most pleasant texture are linguine and spaghetti; other shapes tend to get gummy when cooked.

I came up with this dish shortly after my friend Olivier shared his genius idea of using puréed beets as a dressing for a simple salad. The beet vinaigrette was so original that it inspired me to find ways to incorporate the sauce in other dishes. Pasta made a lot of sense to me since it requires a sauce. It turned out to be quite a hit at my house; the mouth-watering sauce balances beautifully with the texture of the pasta. Merci Olivier!