Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Beetroot, Orange and Hazelnut Salad

Chef: Peter Gordon as heard on Saturday Morning Saturday 12 November 2005

Tags: salad, hazelnut, orange, beetroot

Ingredients

• 2 medium beetroot (the size of a tomato)
• 1 lge orange
• juice of 1 lge juicy lemon
• 24 skinned hazelnuts, toasted until golden
• 1 tbsp lemon flavoured extra virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 tbsp fromage frais
• 12 chicory leaves (aka witloof)
• 1 tbsp thinly sliced chives

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Wash the beetroot skins without tearing them then wrap them tightly in a piece of foil, making sure there isn’t a tear in it as this will let out the steam. Bake on a tray for 60-80 minutes until you can insert a sharp knife through the foil into the centre of the beets. Cool completely.

Remove the foil and, wearing gloves, rub (or peel) off the skin. Cut the beets into 1cm dice and put into a bowl.

Finely grate 1 teaspoon of zest from the orange and put this in another bowl then segment the orange, cutting each segment into quarters, and add with the lemon juice to the bowl of zest.

Flatten the nuts with the side of a large knife to crush them a little and stir into the orange mixture with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide the fromage frais between the chicory leaves and spoon in the orange salad, then add the beetroot dice leaving any beetroot juice behind as it won’t look good dribbling down your chin and on to your best shirt. Sprinkle with chives.