Roasted beetroot salad with feta and walnuts

My introduction to beetroot, growing up in Australia, was the obligatory slice of tinned beetroot whenever you had a burger. But beets are so much more than wet slices from a tin – I love simply roasting them. They have a wonderful sweetness with that earthy undercurrent – someone once described that flavour as the dampness in the earth after a thunderstorm. A warning if you’re cooking with them – make no mistake – that colour is going to stain. So wear gloves and wipe up any juices immediately unless you want deep pink tinges on your fingers and all over your kitchen.

This salad would work equally well with roasted figs – the baking seems to intensify their delicate sweetness, and that would hold up to the robustness of the feta and balsamic dressing.

Actually, this simple salad would work well with any leftover roasted root vegetables too.

Ingredients  no portion size given, make this as big or as small as you want !

1. Roasted beetroot
2. Feta cheese, cubed – I like Danish feta for its rich creaminess but you could use Greek feta as well. You could also use goats cheese (which I don’t like, hence the feta)
3. Baby beet leaves or any salad leaves
4. Walnuts
5. Aged balsamic – or if you don’t have that in your pantry then reduce some ordinary balsamic till it becomes thick and syrupy

Method

1. If you haven’t already got roasted beetroot, you can simply pop them in a hot oven 200C/400C for 30 minutes until tender
2. As soon as they are out of the oven, pop them in a clean glass bowl and cover tightly in clingwrap so that the beetroots continue to steam inside the bowl
3. After 5 minutes, the beetroot should be cool enough to handle. WEAR GLOVES and simply peel/rub off the skin – or you can also rub the skins off with a paper towel
4. While the beets are cooking, toast the walnuts in the oven for 5 minutes till you can smell the fragrant oil
5. Slice the beetroot
6. Assemble the salad – see ? Simple ! (Yet delicious)