This salad is perfect Autumn food. Yes, it's a cold salad, and it therefore doesn't seem like it will be the most comforting thing you can eat, but the flavours are heavenly! Although it's a salad, this one takes a little bit of time to prepare, so is ideal if you want to do something in advance for a dinner party, for example.
Serves 4
For the beetroot:
4 medium beetroot
8 sprigs of fresh thyme
1kg table salt
2 egg whites
For the walnuts:
20 walnut halves
100g caster sugar
100g water
1 bottle vegetable oil
For the goat's cheese:
200g soft goat's cheese, Welsh is ideal but you can use Chevre Blanc
1 tsp creme fraiche
1 tsp cream cheese
Tsp of fresh thyme leaves
Ground pink peppercorns
For the salad:
Mixed salad leaves, including some purple leaves
1 teaspoon English mustard
1 lemon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Start with your beetroot. Preheat the oven to 180C. Mix the table salt with the egg whites in a large bowl, and cover a baking tray with tin foil. Lightly scrub each beetroot clean and pat dry with kitchen roll. Take 2 sprigs of thyme and hold against the edge of the beetroot. Grab a handful of the salt/egg white mix and press it around the beetroot until the whole beetroot's encased in salt and egg white. Place each one onto the baking tray once done.
Repeat with all the beetroot and then cook at 180C for 1 hour. Once ready, leave to cool slightly, then crack each beetroot open, pulling the beetroot from its salt case.
