I love a good beet number. Especially a good roasted beet number. Other than a few traditional South Indian preparations where they are sautéed in a pan (poriyal), or blended into a chutney, this is actually the only way I cook them. Beets get gloriously sweet and concentrated in flavour when roasted. A far cry from their boiled, flabby versions that I grew up with at boarding school.
As someone who’s been scarred by the aforementioned boarding school boiled beetroot, and who consequently (and rather dramatically) swore that I’d never touch another beet in my life, I started tolerating them at some point in adulthood for nutritional reasons. Happy to report that said beet-induced trauma has been alleviated, and I actually enjoy eating them now. But preparation is key, of course. They are not very forgiving.
Good salads are all about flavour and textural balance. Since the beets are sweet, I paired them with a garlicky yogurt for sourness (yogurt) and heat (garlic). There’s crunch from walnuts, and lots of cracked black pepper for another layer of heat.
The beets are roasted in foil, which means you’ll have roasting juices pooled at the bottom. This is flavour town. Dress the hot beets with their roasting juices and a good glug of extra virgin olive oil, fresh pepper, salt, and a squirt of honey. They’ll sponge up the flavour really well when they’re just out of the oven.
Layer the garlicky yogurt on a flat wide plate. Pile on the juicy beets, throw on the walnuts and parsley (if you have it). Finish with another fresh grinding of black pepper, and be ready to eat your way through the plate in its entirety.
ROASTED BEETS WITH GARLICKY YOGURT
Ingredients
- 2 large beets
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons walnuts, roughly chopped
- Parsley, to serve
- Salt, to taste
Garlicky Yogurt:
- 200 grams Greek yogurt
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C. Peel and quarter the beets. Wrap them tightly in 2 layers of aluminium foil.
- Roast for about 50-60 mins, or until and a knife inserted goes through without any resistance. Open the wrapping and let them cool slightly.
- Mix together the yogurt, garlic, and salt.
- Once the beets are cool enough to handle, chop them into thin slices. Add to a bowl. Toss with the roasting juices in the foil if any, olive oil, honey, pepper, and salt.
- Dollop the yogurt onto a flat wide plate. Pile the beets over the top. Scatter over the walnuts and parsley. Finish with another grinding of black pepper. Serve warm or at room temp.
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