The love of beetroot continues.
This is a sticky / sweet and savoury sharer dish, nice with some fresh bread to
mop up the dressing (I made foccacia with rosemary and salt to go with it).
Ingredients
2 whole beetroot medium or large
A handful of walnuts
3 tbsp fresh labneh
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp of rose water
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
1 tsp of date syrup
A small handful of mint leaves
thinly sliced
black pepper
salt
Heat the oven to 180 °
Put the beetroot in a high sided
tray, add about 2/3 cm of water to the tray depending on the size of the
beetroot, cover the beetroot with tinfoil and roast for 1 hour. It should be
slightly tender but not mushy, as it will then be difficult to slice. Check it after
30 minutes by poking it with a skewer. When it is ready, leave it to cool and then using a mandolin or a peeler shave off the beetroot in
to thin slices. Lay the slices on a plate not overlapping each other and cover and leave in
the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
Add the lemon zest and
rose water to the labneh, whip it with a fork and put it in the fridge.
Toast the walnuts dry in a pan
and break each walnut in to 2/3 pieces.
Take the olive oil and combine it
with the balsamic vinegar, date syrup, a pinch of salt and pepper.
Finally, take the beetroot and
put a little dollop of the labneh on each slice, with a piece of walnut, drizzle over
the dressing and scatter the sliced mint leaves and sprinkle a pinch of salt crystals and pepper.
This is nice with sage as well, although richer without the freshness of the mint. Toast the sage
leaves and warm on a low heat for 1 minute to release the flavours before
scattering.
