Class Report

This time I decided to mix it up a bit and “fly by the seat of my pants”.

I know that I'm always suggesting using the humble beetroot and one of my most favourite recipes is Honey Roasted Beetroot. Recently I demonstrated a pie with the beetroot recipe as a side. One of my friends, who has been coming to my classes since they began had clearly missed the previous occasions when I'd used it – she absolutely loved it. So, that set me thinking and here's the result.

Honey Roasted Beetroot

& Goats cheese Crostini

or

Fly by the seat of your pants!

Ciabatta, sliced

Goats' cheese, sliced

Garlic paste, mixed with a glug of olive oil

*Balsamic vinegar – 2 tsp

*Olive oil – 2 tbsp

*Clear honey – 2 tbsp

Cooked beetroot – 500g

Salt and black pepper

*Chopped fresh thyme – 2tsp or a sprinkle

of dried if you can't get fresh

If fresh beetroot is in season, choose beets of a similar size and roast in foil - @ 180f/200c/Gas 6 for an hour and then test, leave to cool, peel and slice thinly.

For speed and/or when beets are not in season, you can use the vac packs you can get in the supermarket - as an indicator I choose beetroot that is approximately the same size – a 300g vac pack gives you 8 small to medium beetroots. Slice thinly but not so that you can see through – don't use the ends of the beets – they won't “sit” on the bread evenly – save them for a salad or a sandwich.

Combine the ingredients marked * above and season with salt and black pepper. Arrange your slices of beetroot in a foil tray, overlapping the slices to a similar size as your slices of ciabatta. Pour your combined ingredients over the beetroot. Roast in a pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/gas 6 for 10 minutes until the beetroot is sticky and glazed. Set aside.

To assemble your crostini, toast one side of the bread and spread the other, sparingly, with the garlic and oil paste, layer with beetroot and top with goats' cheese. Warm through in the oven for 10 minutes and serve.

I'll save the comments from the Ladies until later, in the meantime, here's a couple of photos

The beauty of this recipe is that you can leave it as it is – an appetiser, or you can scale it up for a lunch or a supper with a side salad.