Roasted Beetroot Salad

Everyone's favourite beetroot salad with feta is so quick and easy to make. With just a few simple ingredients, you can have a tasty and nutritious side dish that's perfect for any occasion, ready to serve in just 10 minutes.

This recipe brings together the sweet earthy flavour of beetroots with salty feta and peppery rocket (would also work with other greens like mixed salad leaves), in such a wonderful way. It's great as a side salad or part of a medley of dishes.

The dressing is made with honey and vinegar complimenting with the saltiness of the feta cheese.

Note that beetroots take a while to cook and so if you're looking for a quick easy meal. My tip is to cook beetroots ahead of time.

I'll sometimes roast the beetroots them days before I actually get round to using them, when I've already got something cooking in the oven, I'll pop them in as well. Beets can keep for about a week in the fridge once cooked.

Ingredients

• 5 medium beetroots

• 100 g feta cheese

• 4 handfuls of rocket or salad leaves

• 1 handful of walnuts or any nuts or seed of your preference, toasted

Dressing

• ¼ cup olive oil

• 2 garlic cloves

• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

• 1 tbsp honey

• 1 Lemon zest and juice

• 1 tsp dried oregano

Method

• Bake the beetroots: set your oven to 180 degrees C

• Give you beetroots a scrub under the cold tap to remove any dirt. Don't cut any part of the beetroot at this stage. You want it all intact or the root will “bleed” when it cooks

• Rub oil over each beetroot and then wrap each one individually in tin foil and place on a baking tray in the middle of the oven

• Bake for 1 hour. Alternatively, you can boil the beetroots whole in a pan of water for 45 minutes but baking brings out more of the sweetness of the beets.

• Toast the walnuts: Add the walnuts to the oven for the last 10 minutes so they get toasted.

Make the dressing:

• Combine all the dressing ingredients in jam jar and shake vigorously until all combined

• There will probably be more dressing than you need. You can store the rest in the fridge for future salads – it will keep for two weeks

• Once the beets are cooked remove from oven (or pan of water) and let cool for a bit until they're not too hot to touch

• Peel the skin off the beetroots – if thoroughly cooked then the skin should have loosened so you should be able to pull the skin off with your fingertips. Or use a peeler if you don't want to have bring pink fingers!

• Cut the beetroots in quarters and assemble with the leaves, crumbled feta and toasted walnuts

• Drizzle the dressing over the salad and serve.

Recipe Notes:

1. The dressing can be made up to 3 days in advance. Store it in the fridge and bring back to room temperature before using, making sure to shake well.

2. If you don't have walnuts, you can use other nuts like cashews, almonds or even sunflower seeds. The nuts add texture which is partly what makes this salad so great.