Beautiful Roasted Beets – Spring Salad Recipe

I came across some heirloom beets a few days ago and they were stunning! I bought two types. The first looked like a standard fuchsia beet on the outside, but slicing them exposed contrasting pink and white concentric rings. Delightful! The second, were bright orange-skinned, with yellow flesh. 

I roasted both of them. Unfortunately the defined colours of the concentric rings dissolved somewhat in the roasting process, but they still tasted fabulous. According to some food writers you can avoid obliterating the lovely rings by steaming the beets as opposed to roasting.

The pink and white beets are defined by a sweet peppery flavour. The yellow-fleshed beets were sweeter again. I served them once they had cooled in a green salad, with bok choy flowers, salty sheeps feta, and an orange and poppy seed and pistachio nut dressing. A delicious combination!

I also held some of the beets back and mixed them into pasta dishes and added them to steamed greens over the following couple of days. Once roasted, the beets will keep for around a week in the fridge. Here’s the recipe, I hope you like it!  

Recipe:

(Serves 2)

Three heirloom beets chopped into wedges (whichever you can find)

50 grams sheeps feta (crumbled)

Three handfuls salad leaves, I used a mixture of baby Spring greens including beets tops

Handful of bok choy flowers (if you can find them)

Handful roughly crushed pistachio nuts

Juice of one orange

Glug of olive oil

Two tea spoons of black poppy seeds

Salt and pepper

Step One: Roast your beets by placing them in a covered baking tray filled with water (to allow themto steam and roast), at 180C. They’ll take around 25 minutes, but you’ll know they are done when you can slice through them easily with a knife. Once they are cooked, drain the water the let them cool. 

Step Two: Mix the dressing. In a small jug, squeeze the juice of your orange, add a glug of olive oil, a pinch of salt, the poppy seeds, and some ground black pepper. Shake it, or stir it and taste. It should be sweet and peppery.

Step Three: in a salad bowl place the greens, the bok choy flowers, the cooled beets, and crumbled feta and the crushed pistachios. Then pour over the dressing and mix with your hands, ensuring each leaf is coated with dressing.

 

Et voila! Serve and enjoy. And if you have any tips on cooking candy-striped beets and keeping the contrasting colours, I’d love to read them.

Spiced Christmas Bark

Kristoph and I are still full from indulgent Christmas Eve, Christmas and Boxing Day meals... We’ve both eaten far too much, too often, and should probably be limiting our next few meals to green vegetables. But as we loll around fire-side, it seems we’re both still reaching for a late comer Christmas hit: Spiced Christmas bark.

I came across this recipe over on Food 52, it was shared by Wanderash who writes the Smash and Sniff blog. Honestly, chocolate bark as never really captured my interest. It looks nice, but I always just viewed it as melted chocolate with a few nuts added. It reminded me of childhood “chocolate-making,” a common holiday activity in our house, which involved melting cooking chocolate and reshaping it into moulds. Lots of fun, but the chocolates weren’t winning any culinary awards, they tasted, well, like cooking chocolate.

Wanderash’s Ancho-Chilli Cinnamon Chocolate Bark however, aroused my interest. It was awarded the best edible gift contest at Food52, and included a delicious sounding mix of very Christmassy toasted spices – star anise, cloves and cinnamon.  The recipe didn’t disappoint, the unique salty, spicy savoury and sweet mix, was a huge hit with our family and friends this Christmas.

We served it on Christmas Eve alongside the pine-nut and rosemary brittle, and presented it in jars as gifts to very pleased family members.  

I altered Wanderash’s recipe a little, substituting dried cranberries for the cherries, and adding a little more star anise. Here’s the recipe: 

Recipe

3 whole star anise

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

3 cloves

2" cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon dried chilli

2/3 cups pistachio

2/3 cups lightly crushed cashews

12 ounces dark bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa solids),

1/2 cup dried cranberries

sea salt

Step 1: Make the spice mix: Pre-heat oven to 200C. Place star anise, cloves, peppercorns, chilli and cinnamon on a baking tray, and toast until fragrant.  Remove from heat and grind the spices, either in a spice, or coffee grinder. 

Step 2: Toast the nuts by placing them on the baking sheet and place in the oven for around 10 minutes. Once toasted, lightly crush using a mortar and pestle.  

Step 3: Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Once melted, stir in the spice mix. Add one teaspoon at a time, stir and taste. The strength of the spice flavour is personal preference – you can make it very subtle or quite strong.  

Step 4: Line a baking tray with aluminium foil. Spread out the nuts and cherries (reserving a few to use as topping). Sprinkle sea salt. 

Step 5: Pour over the chocolate onto the pan, covering the nuts and cherries evenly. Add remaining nuts to the top of chocolate. Put the tray in the fridge and leave to set for 45mins. Once set, break into pieces and store in containers in the fridge.