Tart

Roasted baby beets with wasabi yoghurt

A very pretty way of serving beetroots. You want to get baby beets with their leaves still on, ideally about the size of a golf ball. If we can we get a mixture of golden, candy and English beetroots. Shakit at Parkway Greens in Camden, where we get our groceries, is amazing at sourcing the best quality fruit and vegetables. His shop is an Aladdin’s cave, full to bursting of the most beautiful vegetables you have ever seen, a juicy rainbow of exotic goods - Lilac cauliflowers next to ruby red romano peppers, emerald green wild garlic in spring and mottled pink borlotti beans in the summer, and it is here you will find the multi coloured beetroots. It is worth a trip to London just for a visit to his shop. If you can’t find the baby ones then just buy large ones and slice into wedges.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4 as a side

8 baby beetroots with their leaves on – washed well

water

olive oil

salt and pepper

Miso dressing:

3 tbsp. miso

1 tbsp. honey

3 tbsp. ground nut oil

2 tbsp. rice vinegar

2 garlic cloves crushed

1 lime, juice

1 inch ginger, peeled and finely chopped

salt and pepper

Wasabi yoghurt :

4 tbsp. yoghurt

2 tbsp. wasabi paste

zest of 1 lime

to serve

2 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

3 spring onions, julienned

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat your oven to 220c 2. Thoroughly wash the beetroots and the leaves to get rid of any grit. Lay in a roasting dish and drizzle the bulbs with olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour in water so about 1cm deep. Cover with cling film and put in the hot oven for 10 – 15 mins (if bigger beetroots do for a longer amount of time). 3. Mix together the miso dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Take the beetroots out of the oven and pour out the water, discard the tin foil. Drizzle the miso dressing generously over the bulbs and the remainder over the leaves. Put back in the oven and cook for 15 minutes. 4. Mix together the yoghurt ingredients in a small bowl. Take the beetroots out of the oven and sprinkle the sesame seeds and the spring onions. Then dot over the yoghurt and serve.