Roasted Beetroot Salad with Giant Cheesy Croutons (AKA cheesy toasts)

Hello, I'm back in action from a hiatus. If I'm being really honest, I lost my mojo and creative juices but I'm back in the zone and have a catalogue of recipes I'm itching to try.

It's coming into autumn here in Brisbane. In reality, it doesn't get super cold but it has switched from salad weather to more soup and stews territory. However, I reckon that this salad works in any season because of the earthy wholesome beets.

I first made this recipe and tried melting the cheese and sprinkling it on the salad but it didn't really work. The salad tasted really good but it was not very presentable. So this time around I melted the cheese on the bread instead and doubled up with some uncooked cheese in the salad as well. More cheese please.

Serves 2

Ingredients

Salad

125g of mixed salad leaves. I used some with beetroot leaves for a bit more colour.

4 medium-sized beetroots, peeled and cut into chunks

2 red onions, cut into 1/8 pieces

4 sprigs of thyme

1 orange, cut into segments

50g of pomegranate seeds

100g of Kroon's Goats Cheese cut into cubes (this is so good)

40g of sliced pickled onions

30g of roasted pinenuts

4 cloves of garlic

Salt & pepper

Salad dressing

100 ml of cabernet sauvignon vinegar

3 tbsp. of maple syrup or honey

3 tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil

Salt & pepper

1 of the roasted garlic cloves mashed

Giant Cheesy Croutons

1-2 slices of multigrain sourdough per person

2 thin slices of goat's cheese per slice of bread

2 tbsp. of tomato or onion chutney

1 tbsp. of butter per slice of bread

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/392 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Mix the olive oil, vinegar, maple syrup, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Give it a good stir.

3. In a baking tray, add the beetroots, onions, garlic cloves, thyme sprigs, and half of the vinaigrette. Mix them all together.

4. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes. Stir through mid-way through the cooking. Test that the beetroots are cooked by prodding them with a fork. There should be a bit of give in them but they shouldn't be mushy.

5. Once the veggies are cooked, set aside to cool. Take one of the garlic cloves out and mash it up. Add it to the remaining vinaigrette and stir.

6. While the beets are cooling, you can make the cheesy toasts. Not sure these need an explanation but just in case, butter the bread, spread on the chutney and cover with the cheese. Grill until golden brown.

7. Assemble the salad with the salad leaves, beets, onions, orange segments, pomegranate seeds, cheese, pickled onions, and pine nuts. Pour in the remaining vinaigrette, you can stir everything together with salad accessories or you can get stuck in with clean hands. Note: if you like roasted garlic, you can peel and add them. I just use them to give the veggies flavour but discard them. Discard the thyme sprigs also.

8. Separate into two bowls and enjoy with the croutons.