This recipe has been devised in response to Hugh’s “Three Good Things” challenge. I am, of course, endeavouring to add beer as a sneaky fourth “good thing”. I’m adding it as a subtle addition — much the way the chefs in the TV episodes will gladly include brilliant oils, vinegars, stocks, and herbs without giving them a headline credit.
This beetroot recipe is a complete “winging it” sort of thing and I think it worked out well, but is in need of refinement. This post documents the creation of the following…
While this may look complicated, it is actually made up of parts that can be created at your leisure in advance and it comes together easily when you’re ready for tea.
The components that make up the plate are:
- Roast beetroot – purée, and grilled slices.
- Halloumi – grilled slices
- Spiced toasted walnuts – whole, crumbled, and pasted
Beetroot
- Beetroots – 2 just-smaller-than-tennis-ball sized
- 2 tsp rich balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp rapeseed oil
- 2 sprigs of fresh parsley
- Zesty hoppy strong US-IPA-style beer
Bake your beetroots and peel them, then let cool. The steps below can be done using pre-baked beetroot from the fridge.
Take 3 slices per-person from the centre of the beetroot, about 4mm thick.
Dice the rest, discarding any hard and woody bits, and put into a food processor. Add leaves from parsley, balsamic vinegar, and rapeseed oil. Emulsify and add the beer, dribble in until a thick but just-off-runny consistency is achieved. It should be pipeable, but not pourable.
Add salt to taste, it will need some!
Walnuts
(“Spiced” walnuts inspired by Gill’s nuts in the Beetroot episode.)
- 100g walnut pieces
- 10 whole walnuts (plenty, in case they break)
- Seeds from 8 cardamom pods
- 1/2 tsp golden caster sugar
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- a few grinds of black pepper
Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
Dry-fry the cardamom seeds until aromatic (about 4 minutes on a low flame). Grind to powder with the salt and sugar.
Place walnuts in a pan in the oven for 10 minutes, by this time they should have started to sweat a little oil. Toss with cardamom mixture in a separate bowl then place back in roasting pan and sprinkle cardamom mix over the top. Stick this back into the oven for another 5 minutes.
When cool separate out the whole walnuts and put aside.
Split the walnut pieces into two piles, roughly crush one half.
Place the other half into a large mortar and pestle and grind to a paste, add in rapeseed oil until a thick just-pourable consistency is achieved. Add salt to taste. This is best off being a bit on the salty side, a bit like normal peanut butter, it will be used sparingly.
Halloumi
Cut into the biggest squares you can, sliced about 4mm thick. This can be difficult, halloumi normally has seams and gaps in it, you’ll need to survey these and work around them. (There will be offcuts… “chefs perks” or put them aside, diced they’re a great addition to salads.)
Lay the slices flat in a pan and marinate in a dash of the IPA mentioned above, give it a good 30 minutes.
Bring it all together!
Warm a couple of plates.
Get a grill pan on the stove and make it very hot.
Put the beetroot purée in a saucepan and warm – be careful here, it needs to just warm, it should not even get close to simmering! This will kill off aromatics from the IPA and make it bitter.
Pat dry the halloumi pieces, brush with oil, and place in the grill-pan. Leave for just about a minute. Remove to a standby plate using a stiff metal scraper – be careful the cheese will be floppy and possibly a bit stuck to the grill.
Oil the beetroot slices and put them in the grill too, these can grill for 3 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile start “plating up”.
Create a pattern on the plate with the purée, in my case a huge comma.
One at a time place a square of halloumi down with a round of beetroot on top, ovelapping as you go.
Use a squeezy bottle or piping bag (ziplock bag with the corner cut out works) to put a pattern of walnut paste over the top.
Place a single whole spiced walnut on the top of each beetroot round.
Scatter crushed walnut and some chopped parsley as you see fit.
Serve! Enjoy with a glass of the beer used in the recipe – of course!
