Post-Diwali, I went back to eating lighter, nutrition-dense meals like this Roast Beetroot Feta Walnut Salad. This may be a salad, but it is hearty and filling. I eat it on its own or sometimes I serve it on wedges of toasted tortillas for dinner or serve it as a delicious side dish with a pasta or a meat dish.
Making beetroot delicious
Now beetroot can be a difficult vegetable for some people. But it can be cooked to maximise its sweetness and minimise the astringent taste that some people dislike. Roasting beets in the oven like I did in this recipe for Roast Beetroot Feta Walnut Salad, is one of the surest ways of achieving this. Beets are rich in iron, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, B-complex and vitamin C and are loaded with fibre. Roasting them in the oven with garlic pods, drizzled with olive oil, seasoned with salt, brings out a rich sweetness that is tinged by a savoury aftertaste. This makes the beets succulent and intensely flavourful, as if every molecule is like a flavour-loaded bubble on the verge of bursting.
Sweet, salt, fat and acid
Roast Beetroot Feta Walnut Salad – as the name suggests, the other ingredients in this salad are feta cheese and walnuts. So imagine sweet, soft and juicy beets rubbing shoulders with salty, creamy, crumbly feta and rich, fatty and nutty walnuts. They’re so different and yet they compliment each other so harmoniously. I also threw in a handful of toasted pumpkin seeds for some crunch and so there’s also a dance between contrasting textures – soft beets and creamy cheese dancing around with crunchy nuts and seeds. All these flavours get along so well and tickle different parts of the tongue, making the mouth water for them. Joining this wild tango is a tangy dressing of balsamic vinegar, mustard; and nothing could be more complete in terms of taste. The balsamic is sweet and sour while the mustard brings some pungency and mild heat. This Roast Beetroot Feta Walnut Salad is well rounded and with every bite you get a small hit of everything – sweet, salt, fat and acid.
So the next time you buy a bunch of fresh beets, give this dish a whirl. You may find a new way of enjoying this underrated vegetable.
Roast Beetroot Feta Walnut Salad
Ingredients
- 300 g beetroot, washed, peeled and cut into 1-cm thick wedges
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 40 g feta cheese
- 30 g walnuts, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
- 30 g pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted
- Salt
For the dressing
- 1½ tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
- 3-4 cloves of garlic with their skin on
- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180℃. Place the beet and garlic on a piece of parchment or foil, drizzle with olive oil and salt, wrap the foil or parchment around to create a pouch. Place on a baking sheet and roast in for 45-50 minutes till the beets are cooked.
- Make the dressing by whisking together all the dressing ingredients along with the peeled and crushed, roast garlic.
- Place the cooled beet, walnuts and pumpkin seeds in a bowl and drizzle liberally with most of the dressing. Mix gently. Crumble the feta over the salad and drizzle with the remaining dressing and serve.
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