This Month's Recipe...
Beetroot, Red Cabbage and Goat's Cheese Salad
From page 98 of The New English Table.
I originally paired up beetroot and raw red cabbage because the colours were good together, magenta on magenta, but I did not expect it to be so delicious. The red cabbage is the big surprise. Eaten raw, it is tender with none of the sourness of uncooked white or green cabbage. Choose a goat's cheese with an ash rind – Dorstone, Chabis and Ragstone are perfect.
Serves 4
8 medium beetroot
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ small red cabbage, cut into thick slices, then shredded into 2cm pieces
200g goat's cheese with an ash rind
a little extra virgin olive oil
2 dried bird's eye chillies, crushed
sea salt
Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Put the whole beetroot, untrimmed and with a little stalk left on, in a roasting tin, and add the vinegar and oil. Roll the beetroot round the tin to coat them with both, then cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for another 15 minutes, until burnished and tender. Allow to cool.
Divide the shredded cabbage between 4 plates. Slice the beetroot – there is no need to peel them – and pile them on top of the cabbage, then scatter over the goat's cheese. Pour a little oil on to each salad, scatter a pinch of the crushed chilli on top and finish with a little salt.
