Roasted beetroot salad with dill and walnuts

As a kid I utterly loathed beetroot. It took me a while to realize that it wasn’t beetroot’s fault, but the way it was prepared – grated and pickled to death. Fast forward a few (OK, quite a few!) decades and those bottles of grated beetroot still grace our supermarket shelves. And it’s still not my cup of tea.

With its fabulous earthy richness there is much to recommend this humble root vegetable. For ultimate depth of flavour it’s best to roast it. But even if you boil it, it’s still way better than anything you can buy in a bottle or vacuum pack.

I took my inspiration for this roast beetroot salad recipe from Eastern Europe where beetroot dishes often include sour cream. It’s a pretty magical combination, but a nightmare for your waistline and your cholesterol. So I turned to thick yoghurt for that same tangy, creamy effect. And I added loads of dill, also a winning partner for beetroot. If you’re a beetroot hater, try this recipe. It may just change your mind.

All you need is…

4 medium beetroot
1 Tbsp olive oil
¼ cup aged balsamic vinegar (the Forage & Feast brand stocked at Checkers is great quality at the price)
½ cup walnuts
1 cup (250ml) double cream plain yoghurt
zest of one orange, grated as finely as possible (a microplane is brilliant for this)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
large handful of dill, roughly chopped

Start by cooking the beetroot. You can boil them, unpeeled, until soft and then peel them. But for best flavour, roasting is the way to go. Simply give them a good wash, drizzle lightly with olive oil and wrap them tight in tinfoil. Roast them in a 180 degree Celsius oven until they’re soft – it takes about an hour. Simply stab them with a sharp knife to test.

Use a veggie peeler to peel the cooked beetroot and cut them into chunks. Drizzle the aged balsamic over the beetroot and allow it to marinate for at least an hour.

Tumble the walnuts onto a baking sheet and place in the oven for about 10 minutes to roast. Roughly chop the walnuts. Now it’s time to assemble your roast beetroot salad.

Stir the orange zest into the yoghurt and spoon it onto a large plate. Drain the beetroot and spoon it in the middle of the yoghurt, leaving a clear yoghurt edge for the pretty. Grind over a bit of sea salt and loads of black pepper. Scatter over the dill and finally the walnuts. Dig in. (If you’re allergic to nuts, this recipe is still lovely without the nuts.) This roast beetroot salad will serve four as a side dish.