Rebecca’s Recipe of the Week: A Very Good Beet Salad | Canalside Community Food

I imagine you’re already aware of how good roasted beets are in a salad, especially if they are accompanied by some salty cheese. Here is a particularly tasty variant on this classic combination. Suzanne Goin, whose recipe this is, claims it converted her beetroot-hating mother into a beetroot fan. The cumin vinaigrette, fried chickpeas, flat-leaf parsley and sharp black olives combine with the rich, roasted beets and salty ricotta to make a treat for your mouth.

Ricotta salata is a hard, dried version of ricotta. You could use a hard goat or sheep cheese in its stead.

Roasted Beet Salad with Fried Chickpeas, Black Olives and Ricotta Salata

Suzanne Goin says this serves 6 as a starter. Matt and I ate the whole thing for dinner, with some bread.

Ingredients

1kg beetroot, cleaned
120ml olive oil
1½ teaspoons cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 shallots, thinly sliced
250g cooked chickpeas
a fragment of chopped Canalside chile pepper, seeds removed if you like (optional)
90 grams dry, Niçoise-style black olives
15g flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
100g ricotta salata, cut into thin slivers
more salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Put the beetroots in a roasting pan, add a splash of water, and cover the pan tightly with foil. (I know it’s not great to use foil. You can at least try to reuse this foil, since it won’t get dirty.) Roast the beets for 40-90 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a knife. How long they take to roast will depend on their size. Let cool and remove the skins. They should rub off easily. If they don’t, you can use a knife. Slice the beetroots into wedges and place in a large bowl.

While the beetroots are roasting, toast the cumin seed in a dry medium pan over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they smell cumin-y. Let cool a bit and then grind coarsely in a mortar and pestle. Transfer to a bowl.

To this bowl add the salt, red wine vinegar and lemon juice. Whisk in 100ml of olive oil. Taste and balance the seasoning, if necessary. Does it need a little more lemon juice, or salt? Add the shallots and set aside to marinate a bit.

Heat the remaining 20ml of olive oil in the pan you used for the cumin. When it is really hot, add the chickpeas and the chile (if you’re using it), and fry for 4-5 minutes, until the chickpeas are crispy. Shake the pan often. Once they’re crispy, season with a bit more salt and pepper and set aside.

Gently toss the beetroots with the cumin-shallot vinaigrette. Add the olives and parsley leaves and taste again. Balance the flavours with more lemon juice, salt or pepper, if necessary.

Array half the salad on a platter. Tuck half the cheese around the vegetables, and top with half the chickpeas. Place the rest of the salad on top, nestle in the remaining cheese, and finish with the remaining chickpeas. Enjoy.

Recipe adapted from Suzanne Goin, Sunday Suppers at Lucques (2005).