Beetroot salad with mozzarella and rocket
Posted: 10 March '10 by Kelly
Beetroot salad with rocket and mozzarella
After watching Giorgio Locatelli’s “Pure Italian” for some inspiration, we made beetroot salad with mozzarella and rocket at the weekend.
This is a great starter either for a dinner party or a quick and easy mid-week meal. Not only does it look bright and colourful on your plate but it tastes so fresh and clean. The flavours go really well together: the peppery rocket, the milky mozzarella, and the earthy beetroot with wonderfully sharp vinegar vinaigrette – fantastic!
You can of course use the jarred beetroot but, honestly, the fresh stuff tastes much, much better. Make sure you get some good quality buffalo mozzarella too as you will definitely taste the difference.
Be warned though – beetroot is incredibly messy.. Our kitchen looked like the set from a Tarantino movie when we’d finished.
You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6Image 7
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
- 4 unpeeled beetroot
- 6 tsp red wine vinegar
- 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 100g rocket
- Buffalo mozzarella (we bought the smaller pieces so we could add as much as we wanted)
- Black pepper
Method
- Scrub the beetroot, removing any woody areas or roots.
- Put the beetroot in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring the water to the boil and then simmer for 40-50 minutes until tender. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave it to cool.
- When the beetroot are cold, remove them from the liquid with a slotted spoon, making sure to keep the liquid for later.
- Peel and slice the beetroot into 1/2 disks and reserve the skin. Put the beetroot slices into a bowl and sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of the red wine vinegar and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and leave to marinate.
- To make the vinaigrette put the beetroot skins into a food processor along with 2 or 3 tablespoons of the beetroot cooking water, 2 teaspoons of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and process until the mixture is smooth. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and whisk in the remaining 2 teaspoons of vinegar, the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, salt and pepper.
- Spoon the vinaigrette on top of the sliced beetroot.
- Arrange the beetroot slices around the serving plate and pile the rocket leaves on top. Place the mozzarella in the centre. Drizzle the mozzarella with olive oil.
- Sprinkle with several grindings of black pepper and serve.
Enjoy
Tags: beetroot, giorgio locatelli, recipe, salad
Categories: Featured Post : Recipes : Starter Course
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Wild rocket with parmesan and balsamic vinegar salad
Posted: 08 February '10 by Kelly
Rocket salad with parmesan and balsamic vinegar
This really isn’t a recipe, but you will thank me for sharing it with you if you don’t already know about it.
Although you only need three ingredients for this salad, the quality of these three elements is very important. We use a mature Parmigiano-Reggiano, wild rocket, and a good quality balsamic vinegar – all of which are easily found in your local supermarket.
You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 50g parmesan cheese
- 100g wild rocket leaves
- 4 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar
Method
- Rinse the wild rocket and shake well to dry – place the rocket leaves in a bowl.
- Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and toss the salad leaves.
- Using a sharp knife cut wedges chips of parmesan into the salad, working your way back from the thin end. It’s important that the chips aren’t too thin.
- Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
Other information
Bio-store, which you can find at the market in Belfast’s St. George’s Market on Saturdays, are now carrying some fantastic balsamic vinegar from Modena, with more varieties to come.
Categories: Featured Post : Italian Food : Recipes : Side Dishes : Starter Course
