Beetroot, goats cheese and walnut salad

One of the most useful things you can have in your cupboard at the moment is vac packed cooked beetroot which you can buy in the fresh section of most supermarkets. Fortunately it doesn’t look that appealing so there hasn’t been a run on it despite the fact it’s relatively inexpensive (90p in my local Co-op).

You can use it to make a salad, as I’ve done here and, with the same ingredients, turn it into a dip. Or a borscht if you’re so minded (which would create a use for the liquid in the pack though you would obviously need to add stock too.)

In terms of ingredients - and this applies to all the recipes I’m posting at the moment - just remember you can always substitute whatever you’ve got. You could make this salad with ANY crumbly white cheese - or blue cheese come to that. And substitute hazelnuts for walnuts - or some chunky crusty croutons if you haven’t got or are allergic to nuts.

Beetroot, goats cheese and walnut salad for 1

25g or so of walnut pieces or toasted hazelnuts

Half a 250g pack of cooked beetroot

40-50g hard goats cheese, feta or other white crumbly cheese

A handful of rocket or other salad leaves

2 tbsp salad dressing (see below)

A few chives if you have them

A few grinds of black pepper if you're a bit of a pepper fiend

If you have the oven on for something else pop the walnuts in for 3-4 minutes to refresh them otherwise toast them for a couple of minutes in a dry pan. Remove one or two of the beets from the pack and break roughly into pieces with a teaspoon. (Just looks a bit nicer and more natural than cubing them.) Crumble the cheese with a fork. Arrange the leaves on a plate, arrange the beetroot pieces on top and spoon over half the dressing. Scatter the cheese and nuts over the top and spoon over the remaining dressing. Grind over some cracked black pepper (why the plate is looking so messy) and sprinkle over a few snipped chives.

For the dressing

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 dessertspoon red or white wine vinegar

3-4 dessertspoons of olive oil

Salt and pepper

Put the mustard in a jam jar with the vinegar, 3 dessertspoons of the olive oil and salt and pepper and shake vigorously. Add a little more oil if you find it too sharp.

Beetroot, goat cheese and yoghurt dip

Serves 2-4 depending what else you’ve got on the table

Half a 250g pack of cooked beetroot

40g hard goats cheese or feta, cubed

1 small clove of garlic crushed or a pinch of garlic granules (optional)

1/4-1/2 tsp ground cumin

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp natural unsweetened yoghurt or kefir

Salt

Chop the beets roughly, put in a food processor or blender and pulse a few times to break up. Add the cubed cheese, garlic, if using, cumin and salt and whizz into a thick purée. Trickle in the oil while the motor is running as if you were making mayonnaise then add the yoghurt and briefly pulse. Tip into a bowl and serve with pitta, flatbread or crackers.

What to drink: Partly because of the goats cheese but sauvignon blanc goes really well with both of these. For other suggestions see

The best wines to pair with beetroot