Beets and peaches, with a roasted garlic yoghurt
Hanging on to summer...
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I write from the road this week, a long overdue Summer break, so I’m keeping things brief.
I have a new recipe on NYT Cooking this week - it is summery take on cold sesame noodles (gift link, no paywall), bolstered with seasonal accents of cucumber, corn and basil. It’s the perfect dish for right now, as we transition into cooler days.
Also, I really enjoyed this conversation with
who is the host of Cherrybombe’s She’s My Cherry Pie podcast. I was thrilled to be invited onto the show because even though Tenderheart is not a baking book, there are many easy vegetable-lead baking recipes which anyone can master! Including the ginger and coconut mochi cake which I think is the most foolproof of all cakes - one bowl, mix by hand, no need to worry about dryness! Cherrybombe shared the recipe here.
Last week’s Eggplant Rolls were so popular that I have now made the recipe FREE TO ALL. If you are a free subscriber, the recipe is now available to you here.
This week’s recipe is one of the many ‘fruit salads’ I have enjoyed this summer. While I wasn’t always a fan of fruit paired with savoury ingredients, I’ve completely come around to it. Once I started to understand the role of fruit in savoury dishes, where they add a distinct juicy texture and a vibrant freshness, everything changed. My tips: don’t be afraid to season fruit boldly with salt and pepper, pair with salty cheeses and inject umami as I have here with this rich roasted garlic yoghurt sauce.
The first salad I ever cooked for Arthur Street Kitchen salad service was a roasted beetroot salad with chickpeas and lemon saffron yoghurt. It was an earthy salad, shiny and colourful, but quite a daring one as my first boxed delivery. Beetroot is not the household name as broccoli or cauliflower are, but in those days, I found that my customers loved the unexpected. Perhaps you all still do? Incidentally, you can find this recipe in the 5th anniversary revised edition of Community, which was released with 20 new recipes and stories in 2019.
So, this recipe is a bit of a flashback. From that first salad, I have the beetroot and yoghurt combination, but I’ve added sweet peaches which instantly brightens up all the flavours. Roasted red onions add a jammy creaminess. The yoghurt sauce has depth and umami from the roasted garlic. Try this while we still have peaches to play with, and those in the Southern hemisphere, this is one to save for the stone fruit season which is just around the corner!
Beets and peaches with roasted garlic yoghurt
© Hetty Lui McKinnon for To Vegetables, With Love
There are many ways to roast beetroot. I chose to dress them simply in olive oil, salt and pepper, and then wrap in foil for roasting. The foil enclosure creates a warm chamber for the beetroot to cook within, while also allowing them to retain all their juiciness. When ready, the skin slips right off.
While we are turning the oven on, I’ve maximized the opportunity by adding red onion and garlic to roast alongside the beets. Roasted alliums like onion and garlic deliver incredible depth of flavour – the pungency and bitterness found in their raw form transforms into sweetness and silkiness.
If you’re looking to save time, you can absolutely use store-bought pre-cooked beetroot. I use them a lot in my everyday cooking, especially when I’m looking to throw together a super quick dinner. Of course, if you prefer, you could substitute the peaches with nectarines, plums or apricots.
Serves 2 as a main or more as a side
340g (12 ounces) beetroot (beets), washed
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and black pepper
1 small red onion, cut into thick wedges
4-5 cloves garlic, unpeeled
240g (1 cup) vegan yoghurt such as oat or coconut (or use regular greek yoghurt)
handful of salad greens
2 ripe peaches (about 300g / 10.5 oz), deseeded and sliced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
30g (1/4 cup) roasted walnuts, roughly chopped
Preheat oven to 400˚F / 200˚C.
Place each beet onto a piece of foil, drizzle with a little olive oil, and season with sea salt and black pepper (if your beets are large, cut in half or quarters; for small beets, leave as is). Wrap up the beets and place onto a baking tray. To the same tray, add the red onions in a little pile, keeping them together and separate to the foiled beets, and drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt and black pepper. Finally, add the garlic cloves to the same tray. Place in the oven and roast for 30 minutes, until the onions are soft and golden around the edges. Remove the onions and garlic from the tray, and then place the beets back into the oven, roasting for another 10-15 minutes (total time for beets should be 40-45 minutes), or until the beets are tender.
Peel the roasted garlic and discard the skins. Place the yoghurt into a small blender or food processor and add the roasted garlic along with 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt. Blitz until completely smooth.
Unwrap the beets and remove the skin. Slice them.
To assemble the salad, place the salad leaves on a large plate or platter. Top with beets, followed by the red onions, and peaches. Spoon over the roasted garlic yoghurt sauce. Drizzle over balsamic vinegar, a little olive oil and season with sea salt and black pepper. Top with walnuts and serve.
The Beetroot and Peaches salad is interesting - I'm looking forward to giving it a go. Thanks also for sharing your Eggplant Roll recipe - kind of a hummus thing wrapped in eggplant - delicious.
Hetty this looks delicious, will definitely try it! One small correction - end of recipe (“to assemble...”) doesn’t mention what to do with roasted garlic yoghurt... assume per the pic it’s dolloped over just before sprinkling with chopped walnuts? Thanks!