I love roasted beetroot as a side vegetable with beef or occasionally with a fillet of salmon. However, in this recipe the beetroot is the main ingredient and the star of the dish.
I prefer to roast the beetroot in foil, so that it steams and roasts simultaneously. It creates a lovely depth of flavour, although peeling the cooked beetroot is a bit of a tricky task!
Tart feta is a lovely contrast to the soft, sweet, beetroot, but for a change, I sometimes serve this with warm goats cheese instead. Caramelised walnuts add a lovely sweetness if you have them but regular walnuts also work well.
I've included a choice of dressings, although both include a tablespoon of honey for that added sweet/sharp contrast.
For the salad
500g fresh beetroot
Olive oil
¼ cucumber
120g feta (for 2 people)
Handful of walnut pieces or halves
Mixed salad leaves
For the honey and walnut dressing
Small shallot (peeled and finely diced)
1 tablespoon of runny honey
2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons of walnut oil
4 tablespoons of rapeseed (or light olive) oil
Seasoning
OR
For the honey and mustard dressing
1 tablespoon of runny honey
½ tablespoon of Dijon mustard
½ tablespoon of wholegrain mustard
2 tablespoons of cider vinegar (or 1 of cider and 1 of balsamic)
6 tablespoons of rapeseed (or light olive) oil
Seasoning
- Pre-heat the oven to 190c.
- Top and tail the beetroots, leaving a little of the stalk intact and then cut any large beetroot in half.
- Place each beetroot (or half beetroot) in a piece of foil and drizzle with a little olive oil. Wrap the beetroot in the foil and place in the hot oven.
- Cook the beetroot for 1 - 1½ hours, until tender. To test if the beetroot is ready, remove from the oven and check how soft the beetroot are by inserting a small, sharp knife. If it slides in easily, then the beetroot is cooked.
- Once the beetroot is ready, remove from the oven, unwrap the foil and leave to cool.
- Once the beetroot has cooled down enough to touch, remove the remaining stalk and peel or rub off the skin (this is the frustrating bit!). Cut the beetroot into bite-sized chunks or slices.
- Place all the dressing ingredients into a jug and mix well to combine.
- Drain the feta.
- Cut the cucumber into small dice.
- Arrange the salad leaves on the plates, and top with the beetroot and cucumber, then crumble over the feta and a sprinkling of walnuts.
- Pour over the dressing and serve.
