The beauty of this salad is that it uses (almost) the entire vegetable. Rather than throwing them away, the glossy green leaves of the beet act as the leaf in this salad – cool, right?
Beetroot leaves are delicious, good for you, and hold up for a few days in the fridge, even when coated with dressing. The earthy beetroot, hefty lentils and sweet currants pair beautifully with The GOAT dressing, with the maple walnuts bringing a welcome crunch.
SERVES
3 – 4
INGREDIENTS
Dressings
1 quantity The GOAT dressing
1 cup (100g) Maple walnuts
See both here: see here: salad accompaniments
Salad
1 bunch beetroots, leaves intact and in good condition
½ cup (95g) dried beluga lentils
½ red onion, very finely chopped Handful (30g) currants
Large handful mint leaves dill fronds,
to garnish
Directions
Preheat the oven to 200–220°C and bring a small saucepan of water to a boil.
Trim off the beetroot leaves and set aside. Scrub the beetroots clean and wrap each beetroot individually in aluminium foil, then cook on a baking sheet for 50–60 minutes, or until they can be easily pierced with a fork. Allow to cool before rubbing the skins off with your hands (you can use gloves for this if you want to avoid pink hands), then cut into bite- sized wedges.
When the water is boiling, add the lentils and cook for 15–20 minutes. Drain and rinse under cool water. Shake off any excess water, and set aside.
Cut the stems off the beetroot leaves and discard. Stack around ten leaves on top of each other then cut into strips, approximately 2cm wide. Wash twice, then spin dry.
To serve, combine the cooked lentils, red onion, currants and greens in a large mixing bowl and stir through half the dressing. Place half the salad on a serving platter. Top with half the cooked beetroot wedges and maple walnuts. Repeat with remaining salad, beetroot and walnuts, then drizzle with the rest of the dressing and top with mint leaves and dill fronds. Serve as is, or with an array of other delicious salads.
Recipe extracted from Epic Salads by Jessica Prescott,
published by Hardie Grant Books, RRP $65. Photography: Rochelle Eagle
