Beetroot, avocado and pea salad

Recipe from Plenty More by Yotam Ottolengthi

(serves 4-6)

So i was inspired recently to pick up one of our many many recipe books and actually cook something out of it! Not just flick through and drool over the pretty pictures, then half-heartedly make something similar using the concept or the main ingredients as a base for creating my own thing. Paul's sister inspired me as she had a fancy italian recipe book out and it's been quite fun actually! I chose this Ottolenghi book because it has some really creative ways to prepare and assemble vegetables, so it's been an eye-opener and great way to learn some new techniques. It is a bit more of a hassle to make sure i've got everything in advance, but otherwise well worth the effort!

This blanched beetroot and snowpea sprouts salad is very fresh with the herbs, better with fresh peas rather than frozen though!  

Prep time: 20 min

Cooking time: 10 min

Snow pea sprouts and beetroot

Ingredients

4 medium beetroot

1 small red onion

2 T red wine vinegar

60mL olive oil

1/2 tsp caster sugar

1-3 tsp Tabasco sauce 

2 medium avocados

10g coriander leaves

10g mint leaves

30g snowpea shoots

100g peas, fresh or frozen (but much better fresh!)

Method

1. Peel the beetroot (preferably with gloves on otherwise your hands will be stained!) and slice 2-3mm thick. You may need to halve them if the beetroot are large.

2. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add the beetroot. Blanch for 5-7 minutes until semi-cooked but still retaining a bite. Rinse under cold water and pat dry.

NB. The original recipe says 3-5 minutes, but i haven't quite gotten used to such hard beetroot yet!

3. Thinly slice the red onion and place in a bowl with the beetroot, vinegar, oil, sugar, chilli sauce, 1 tsp salt and black pepper. Toss gently and leave aside for 15 minutes.

4. Quickly blanch the peas for 1-2 minutes and rinse with cold water and pat dry.

5. When ready to serve, spread half the beetroot mixture on a shallow plate, top with snow pea sprouts, half the mint, coriander and avocado thinly sliced. 

6. Top with the remaining beetroot mixture.

7. Sprinkle the peas over and assemble the remaining ingredients and drizzle with olive oil and serve as a side to roast or BBQ meat!