There wasn’t many things I didn’t like when I was growing up but I’m afraid beetroot was one of them. I’m not entirely sure why, maybe because it was usually served cold and pickled on the side of something with no business for it being there.
Luckily I now love it and this dish sums up everything that should go right with a beetroot dish. It’s now the main feature of the meal, it’s sweetness enhanced by the honey and balanced by the salty goat’s cheese and crispy bacon. It really makes a lovely Summer salad.
Ingredients (serves 4)
For the Beetroot
4 large or 8 small Beetroot
Olive oil
Honey
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
For the Salad
200g goats cheese
200g bacon lardons
Rocket
Sesame Seeds
Chives
Basil
For the Vinaigrette
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
Method
Preheat oven to 200c. Chop each beetroot in half and place on a baking tray, drizzle with the olive oil, honey and add a few dashes of balsamic vinegar to each beetroot. Season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes depending on the size of beetroot.
While the beetroot is roasting prepare the other ingredients. Add all the vinaigrette ingredients to a small jar and season with salt and pepper. Shake the jar well until all the ingredients are combined and set aside. Fry the bacon lardons until golden and crispy and set them aside too. In a hot dry pan add the sesame seeds and toast them until they start to turn a little brown. This won’t take long so its important to constantly watch them so they don’t burn.
After the beetroot is cooked slice them up and arrange in a ring on each plate and add a small handful of rocket to the middle. Crumble the goats cheese on top followed by the bacon lardons and drizzle the vinaigrette all over the dish. Finally garnish with the toasted sesame seeds, chopped chives and torn basil. This salad works well either with the beetroot hot straight from the oven or left to cool.