Beat Root & Ricotta Salad;

I probably stole this recipe somewhere originally but I don’t remember where anymore and it is all mine now.

Ingredients:

1. Beat root (about ½ medium sized one per person);
2. 50 gr. Rocket per person;
3. 50 gr. Ricotta per person (I use soft fresh ricotta but older saltier cheese also works and gives the dish a more mature taste);
4. Best quality olive oil;
5. Best quality Balsamic vinegar;
6. Juice of ¼ lemon per 2 people;
7. Teaspoon of best quality honey;
8. Roasted pine nuts;
9. Salt & pepper (use good quality sea salt as you will be crunching the salt crystals) to taste.

Preparation

1. Cover beat root in salted cold water. Bring to boil and let simmer until beat root is done about 45 min. You can tell the beet root is done when a knife slides easily into it;
2. Peel the cooked beet root after cooling it in cold water (you should be able to remove the skin with your hands) and cut into medium slices. Put the slices into a bowl with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar (about 1 tbsp per medium beet root), salt and pepper. Toss and leave to marinate for about 1 hour;
3. Make a lemon vinaigrette with the lemon and olive oil (basically emulsify the olive oil by whisking it into the lemon juice) and toss with the rocket. Add salt and pepper to taste;
4. Assemble the salad by arranging slices of beet root on top of a bed of rocket, add a dollop of ricotta and a small drop of honey. Drop a few of the pine nuts on top and serve.