Happy New Year #LoyalRoyals,
I want to share a favourite budget-friendly and healthy salad with you. It uses the whole beetroot (stems, leaves and all), so there’s no peeling to do. We’ve created a wow-factor dressing which features our Moroccan Pesto Princess Chermoula Paste but if you don’t have any chermoula in your fridge, you can season well with salt and pepper, pour over some olive oil and lemon juice and you’ll still have a winner.
Serve as a side or as a main dish with crusty ciabatta.
Wishing you a year of nourishing meals and excellent health.
HRH Kathleen
You will need
8 large beetroot, with stalks and green leaves intact
5-7 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 tsp whole cumin
Salt
Olive oil
Lemon juice
For the dressing
2/3 cup plain full fat yoghurt
2 Tbsp Pesto Princess Chermoula Paste
Juice from 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt and pepper (adjust to taste)
1 Tbsp olive oil
How to
1. Remove the stalks and leaves from the beetroot and set aside. Give the beets a good scrub, removing any roots and grit. Cut into crescents, leaving the skin on.
2. Crush the garlic and cumin in a mortar with 2-3 teaspoons of salt. If you don’t have a mortar, chop the garlic finely with a knife and mix with the whole cumin and salt.
3. Place the slivers of beetroot into a bowl and toss in olive oil and the garlic mixture until glistening.
4. Roast the beetroot on a baking tray at 190°C until cooked through and slightly crisp in places. Meanwhile separate the stalks from the good leaves. Trim any stalks which are tough and discard any wilted leaves. Rinse the stalks and cut into small pieces (roughly 1.5 cm).
5. Braise the stalks in olive oil using a small pot with a lid. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. While the stalks are braising, rinse the leaves and cut into very fine strips (known as chiffonade*)
6. Once the beetroot crescents are roasted and slightly crisp, combine them in a serving bowl with the stalks and the finely cut leaves and sprinkle with lemon juice. Heat from the roasted beetroot will wilt the finely shredded leaves.
7. Combine all of your dressing ingredients and drizzle generously over the salad. Give it a taste and add some extra olive oil and seasoning if necessary. This dish requires quite a lot of salt and pepper, so don’t be shy.
*Chiffonade is a chopping technique in which herbs or leafy green vegetables (such as spinach and basil) are cut into long, thin strips usually for garnishing. This is accomplished by stacking washed leaves on top of one another, rolling them up like a cigar, and slicing them perpendicular to the roll into the finest possible slivers.
This salad will keep 2-3 days in the fridge.
Feeds 4-6 as a generous side dish.
Recipe and food styling by Michelle Parkin.
Michael Olivier’s Choice
Klein Constantia KC Cabernet Franc Rosé 2016
It looks like Bottled under screw cap in a Bordeaux shaped bottle, elegant label. In the glass, gem-bright like a pink diamond.
It smells like Generous fresh berried fruit with a pleasant forest-after-rain undertow. Nice herbaceous fynbos notes.
It tastes like Zippy fresh on entry, swelling into a full palate pulsing with berries and brambles. Long lingerer, crisp with bright fruit.
