Caydie - beet & citrus salad

Caydie Guerra [she/her], a bartender and caterer, describes learning how to cook and modify dishes like the rite of getting your driver’s license: “I wanted to make it on my own. What if you're not here?” She comes from a multigenerational household of women who cook: “The women in my family started by reading the food section in the paper, like OG foodies, reading the LA Times. My great grandmother and my grandmother passed that on to my mother too. They would always find some kind of new recipe or just something to branch out and try in the family. My mom comes from a family of six kids, so I thank my grandma for being very adventurous and always wanting to try something new…”

Following this tradition, today we’re trying something new: a beet, citrus, and goat cheese salad. She found the recipe in Brandon Skier’s cookbook Make it Fancy which is precisely what Caydie likes to do with her dishes. Even before she cooked for herself, as a child she’d take extra time arranging her own plate nicely when served at a family dinner. 

Today’s recipe was chosen by fate at the local farmer’s market, since they had the golden beets that truly make this salad pop. Additionally Caydie informs me, “the roasted beets soak overnight in tangerine juice, salt, champagne vinegar and a little bit of sugar in the brine. It reminds me of a tamarindo mango candy … feels like there's still some Mexican in here. So that's why I was inspired.” The first recipes Caydie learned were the Mexican dishes served at home, and those flavors and techniques influence dishes she makes herself.

I watch as the plate fills up in layers: first a crafted semi-circle of goat cheese whipped with citrus juice, then the quick pickled roasted beets (each carefully dabbed on paper towel so the juice doesn’t run), mandoline-thin slices of raw beet, supremed orange sections, wispy sprouts, pistachio, and finally a drizzle of olive oil. The plates are beautiful, but Caydie insists “that one’s mine, the chef always takes the ugly plate.”

As I take photos of both dishes, an iced tea materializes in the shot, and then an extra garnish. When we sit down to eat together, she explains the plate choice – a wooden cheese board – a tie-in with “CharcCaydieRie” her charcuterie-forward catering business. This grew out of the room we’re currently sitting in, where she’s hosted holiday parties with huge boards of bite-size offerings. Asked to replicate these for others often enough, she eventually began to officially offer it as a part of a wider catering menu, and lately has been hosting “Neo Spins” a DJ and charcuterie event at Homage in Pomona that combines her love of music with her knack for hosting.

The household’s dogs lounge sleepily in the soft filtered afternoon light while we sit down to eat our salads. The creaminess of the goat cheese is countered by the zip of fresh citrus, the tangerine brine and roasting process lifts the earthiness of the beets, in turn softened by olive oil, the crunch of pistachio on top for texture. I’m trying to eat slowly, both so we can talk more but also because I don’t want the dish to be gone yet. And then a surprise; Caydie says something I’ve never heard before in my life. “No one leaves our house without a dessert.”

She disappears around the corner briefly, and a bowl with a warm chocolate chip macadamia cookie and two scoops of ice cream appears on the table. I race against time to finish the ice cream before it fully melts.