Beetroot salad with goat’s cheese

Beetroot marries beautifully with goat’s cheese, walnuts, apple and tender lamb’s lettuce in this autumnal salad. Whenever I can, I buy raw beetroot from the market and cook them in salted water then dry them out (skins on), on a bed of salt in the oven preheated to 160°C/Gas 3 for about 30 minutes. They are far more flavourful than beetroot sold pre-cooked.

SERVES 4

250g lamb’s lettuce

10–12 fresh walnuts in shells (ideally), or 24 dried walnut halves

200ml cold milk (if using dried nuts)

2 beetroot, cooked with skins on, (about 300g in total)

1 crisp apple, such as Granny Smith Juice of ½ lemon

120g ash-coated goat’s cheese (see note)

For the vinaigrette dressing

4 tbsp walnut oil (or 2 tbsp each walnut and groundnut oil for a milder flavour)

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Using a small knife, trim off the very end of the base of each little sprig of lamb’s lettuce and place in a bowl of ice-cold water to crisp up. After 15 minutes, change the water for ice-cold again, then after 15 minutes drain the salad, dry and set aside in the fridge.

If using fresh walnuts, carefully break open (without damaging them) and take out the nut halves; set aside. If using dried walnuts, in 2 batches, plunge into boiling water for 2 minutes, then peel away the skins using the tip of a small knife, without breaking the nuts. Once peeled, immerse in the cold milk for at least 20 minutes. Just before serving, drain and pat dry with kitchen paper.

Peel the beetroot and cut the wide part in the middle horizontally into very fine slices, as for a carpaccio. Cut the end pieces into evenly sized small dice.

Rinse the apple in cold water and dry it, then, using a mandoline (ideally fitted with the waffle cutter), cut thin slices from the apple, giving the apple a quarter-turn between each and stopping before the core. Sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent discoloration.

For the dressing, whisk the walnut oil and wine vinegar together in a bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the lamb’s lettuce and toss gently to coat in the vinaigrette.

To serve, divide the sliced beetroot between 4 serving plates, then add 4 apple (waffle) slices to each, and the diced beetroot in little heaps in between the apple. Place slices of goat’s cheese on the apple waffle slices then top with the walnut halves. Finally, arrange the lamb’s lettuce in a neat pile in the middle of each plate.

Some fresh goat’s cheeses are coated in ash to reduce the acidity on the surface of the cheese and encourage the rind to form. Typically these cheeses are soft, beautifully smooth and flavoursome, without being too strong.