Salad of roasted beets, broad beans and goats’ cheese

We love broad beans. We love beetroot. We love goats’ cheese. And we LOVE them together… What a perfect salad!

Fresh from the garden: broad beans, beetroot & leaves, lettuces, marjoram, garlic
Recipe source: Melissa
Serves: 6 or 24 tastes

What to do:

• Preheat the oven to 200C.
• Cut the leaves from the beetroot, leaving about 2cms of stalk. Reserve any small leaves. Gently scrub the beets under water to remove any dirt and dry thoroughly with paper towel. Wash and dry the marjoram sprigs and peel the garlic cloves.
• Unroll a large section of foil and line with a slightly smaller piece of baking paper. Place the beets in the centre of the lined foil and throw in 3 cloves of garlic and half of the marjoram. Drizzle a tablespoon each of olive oil and balsamic vinegar over, sprinkle a pinch or two of flaked salt and pepper over and fold the foil package over to totally enclose.
• Place the packet on the baking tray and slide into the oven for about an hour until beets are soft when pierced with a skewer. When done, carefully open the package and let the beets cool.
• Fill the other saucepan with water and set on high to boil. Pod the broad beans, discarding the outer shell into the compost and add beans to the boiling water. Fill a large bowl with cold water and have ready.
• Boil the broad beans for 3 minutes, drain and then immediately refresh in the bowl of cold water. Drain again and double-pod by slipping the outer shell off into the compost. Put the beans into a medium bowl.
• Carefully separate then wash the lettuce and beetroot leaves and spin dry. Break or cut up into smaller pieces with your hands if needed.
• Cut the last garlic clove in two and rub the cut side around the inside of a large bowl, then mix in 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons olive oil, season with salt and pepper and stir together gently. Add the lettuce leaves and toss to coat.
• When the beets are cool enough to handle, slide off the skins and roots, discarding into the chook bucket and thinly slice the beets. Add the slices to the dressing and toss to soak.
• To finish, divide the salad leaves among your serving plates and scatter the beetroot slices on top. Scatter the broad beans over the top, then remove the wrapping from the goats’ cheese and dab chunks of cheese over each salad. Drizzle over the remaining dressing, sprinkle with the reserved marjoram and serve.