Beetroot & Walnut Salad

If you can buy a lovely bunch of beetroot with the leaves fresh and intact all the better, as you can use the leaves in the salad. Beetroots are packed with valuable nutrients so super-good for you as well as being totally delicious. This makes a perfect accompaniment to meat or fish or you could serve it as a little starter, perhaps with some goat's cheese crumbled over the top.

A bunch of fresh beetroot with leaves, long stems, and large green foliage sits against a pristine white background.

Fresh beetroot with their leaves | đź“· Image by WikimediaImages from Pixabay

Info

Serves
4
Prep time
10 minutes
Cooking time
30 minutes or more, depending on size
Calories
179 per serving

Ingredients

  • 500g whole beetroots, preferably medium sized and with their leaves
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped and lightly toasted
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp walnuts, chopped and lightly toasted
  • salt and black pepper

Method

  1. If using bunched beetroot, twist or cut off the beetroots from the stems, about 2cm away from the beetroot head. Pick over the leaves and keep any worth cooking.

  2. Put the unpeeled beetroots into a saucepan, cover with freshly boiled water and add salt. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender. Small beetroots will take about 20 minutes to be knife tender, but very large ones may take up to an hour. Start testing medium-sized beetroots for doneness after about 25 minutes.

  3. When the beetroots are cooked through, drain and cool them with cold water. Rub off the skins and slice the beets into 1/2cm rounds.

  4. If you are using the leaves, wash them thoroughly and put them in a pan with a splash of water. Cook until they have just wilted, then remove from the pan and drain.

  5. Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan. Add the garlic and cook it very gently just to take the raw edge off the flavour and infuse the oil. Add the red wine vinegar and swirl it around the pan, then remove the pan from the heat.

  6. Arrange the beetroot slices and leaves, if using, in a shallow serving dish, then season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over the garlic oil, then sprinkle with the walnuts.