Beetroot, Potato, Borlotti Bean and Feta Salad

[Haggis]

Hey guys, whipped this up for dinner tonight, you could serve it as an entree or a main. I followed no recipe, I only started with the knowledge that beetroot and feta go well together . I know its pretty vague, but thats how I cook all of the time if I'm not following a recipe. You could also use balsamic vinegar instead of the lemon juice, but the zest does give it a nice zing.

roasted beetroot, cut into bite-sized chunks
potatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks, roasted until crispy
wild rocket
feta
cooked borlotti beans (or use canned ones)
mint
lemon juice and finely grated zest
extra-virgin olive oil
crushed garlic

Make a dressing to taste with a small amount of crushed garlic, lemon juice, bit of lemon zest, the olive oil and salt and pepper.

Plonk some rocket down on your serving plates, put your chunks of potatoes and beetroot down on top of it, scatter however many borlotti beans you want and crumble some feta over the top of it. Drizzle all of this with the dressing.

Rip up some mint leaves and scatter over the dish as well as a liberal sprinkling of lemon zest with some more rocket leaves if you want.

 

[jennyema]

Wow! That looks great, with all the flavors and ingredients I adore!

But please send borlotti beans! They are gourmet store items here!

 

[Haggis]

Thats a shame they really are delicious with their ham-like flavour.

 

[Ishbel]

Hiya Haggis - you had me until the feta.....!

I do a dish of roasted baby beetroots, which I roast with in kitchen foil with a good grating of black pepper and a little EVOO. When cooked and freshly peeled I sprinkle with a little white wine vinegar and lots and lots of orange zest....

 

[Haggis]

Not a fan of the feta? Well your standing in my eyes has just taken a nose dive. Hehe just kidding.

You could replace it with any cheese that has a bit of body and saltiness too it. You just need something to contrast against the sweetness of the beetroot. A good crumbly parmesan or pecorino would do the job. And with the potatoes and rocket in there a creamy blue like gorgonzola would go great guns I think as well.

 

[Sandyj]

What a nice recipe, Haggis! I love beetroot, (& feta and potato) but have never thought of serving it this way. I'm definately going to give this a try - just bought a lovely bunch yesterday, with the intention of making a sort of pickle, but will do this instead. I've never heard of borlotti beans, but I'll look around.

 

[Haggis]

The beans are not necessary, I added them to help bulk up the salad and also because they do have a slight meaty flavour (gotta have meat in there somehow! :P).

If you still wanted to keep the beans in you could sub in cannellini (great northern white beans) or even chickpeas. I'm also guessing nice green/brown lentils that retain their shape when cooked would also go nice.

Next time I do this I'm going to try it with some chunks of roasted butternut pumpkin (butternut squash for you septic tanks).

 

[Ishbel]

Not a fan of the feta? Well your standing in my eyes has just taken a nose dive. Hehe just kidding.

You could replace it with any cheese that has a bit of body and saltiness too it. You just need something to contrast against the sweetness of the beetroot. A good crumbly parmesan or pecorino would do the job. And with the potatoes and rocket in there a creamy blue like gorgonzola would go great guns I think as well.

It's not that I don't like feta - I do... just thought it was one ingredient too much for this yummy salad!