Recipe for Beet and Fennel Salad with Meyer Lemon Dressing

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Time:

Set the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Make a foil pouch that will fit all of the beets inside.
Scrub and wash all of the beets, trim away leaves, and remove tips. Place the beets into the pouch and seal the opening. Bake for 1-1½ hours.
Remove from the oven and peel while hot. Set the peeled beets aside to cool.
Rinse and slice the fennel into thin wedges. Loosely chop the fronds.
Make the dressing by grinding all of the peppercorns together, and zesting and juicing the lemons. Put the juice in a medium bowl, and slowly stream in the olive oil while whisking continuously, emulsifying the liquid. When the emulsion is set, stir in the ground pepper, zest, and salt.
Once cooled, cut the beets into wedges or half-moons.
Toss all of the ingredients together, taste-test to see if it needs a pinch of sugar, then serve in a large dish for everyone to share!

I bought a mixture of golden and red beets, roughly 2-3 inches in diameter. Note that smaller beets will cook faster than larger ones, and baking times may need to be adjusted; however, we did bake the pouch for at least an hour.
You can slice both fennel and beets in any way you want. If cubes or stars or rings are your thing, go for it! We just wanted it fairly uniform and easier to eat, so we sliced everything into wedges.
Another way to make an emulsion is to place the lemon juice in a food processor, turn it on, then stream in the olive oil through the top.
Sugar is a tricky thing: if your beets are sweet and your meyer lemon juice is sweet, you may not need any sugar. We added a pinch to our salad mix to balance out the slight tartness from the juice.
Chill the salad in the fridge to help the flavors come together.

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