Whole Roast Beetroot and Wild Garlic

Slow roasted, left whole, then wrapped in a tea towel to steam as it cools, is one of my favourite ways to enjoy a truly condensed and beautiful beetroot flavour. Its sweet earthiness compliments the delicate aroma of wild garlic pesto and the tang of natural yoghurt, with a small helping of lemon and ginger sauerkraut for saltiness and fermented funk. If you happen to have found this recipe first, click here to find the wild garlic pesto recipe first.

Before we jump into the recipe, for the salad leaves I used parsley, beetroot leaves, mustard leaf and miners lettuce, but lettuce, chard, and turnip leaves all work too.

The Recipe - Serves 2

• 4 Beetroot, washed

• 4 tbsp Natural yoghurt

• 4 tbsp Wild garlic pesto

• 1 tbsp Sauerkraut*

*If you haven’t made sauerkraut before, fear not, I’ll release a recipe for that soon too.

Step 1.

Preheat the oven to 200C / 390F and prepare your beetoot by removing the leaves and washing the soil off. When the oven is hot, place the beetroot on a baking tray and cook them for 40-50 minutes.

Step 2.

When the beets are softened (but still firm) remove them from the oven and carefully wrap them up in a tea towel. This will make them steam themselves as they cool, softening them and making the skin easier to peel.

Once cooled, remove the skin by hand and cut them into chunks. Plate them up with the natural yoghurt, pesto, kraut and salad leaves. The beets also store well in the fridge after cooking so why not bulk roast them and add them to your lunches for the next few days?