I can find so much passion in my cooking at times that in the end of the day there is way too much food and we have to refrigerate it for the next days. Not this recipe though. Once prepared it must be eaten the same day, the Macademia is crunchy and the yoghurt white as snow, the next day or even an hour later this colorfull plate might look different.
I happen to suffer from severe red beet addiction, I have to order it everywhere it is on the menu and I cannot give a decent answer to why that is, but I will share some great combinations with beets with you like this one. Entertaining a party of 12 and more the best way is to offer a salad bar for self service and let each one chose from your selection of lets say 3-5 platters of raw and cooked cold salads. For luncheons the platters go well for a main and can include some protein of course, otherwise the guys would end up heading to a nearby fast food place irritated by a protein low.
The smoked salt is key to the taste of the beets
The raw beets must be washed and placed in an oven prove dish, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with smoked salt. Place them covered with a foil in the preheat oven at 225°C for 45-55 min depending on the size of your beets. You can check after 45 min and pierce the beets with a fork if they need more time add 5 min and check again until they are done. Transfer the baking dish onto a heat proof surface and let cool with the cover lifted on a side. This was not too much of a hassle, was it?
In a saucepan on medium heat melt the sugar and the chili until liquid, I used brown sugar because I love the look of the dark brown coating for the nuts. Your timing is important: you want the sugar to be melted and the nuts straight out of the oven.
Therefor use the heat of your oven and roast the macadamia for 10-12 min not longer, stirring often, the 225° will burn them too quickly (usually the nuts need only 160°C to roast gently!) and add them to melted and hot the sugar in the saucepan, roll them quickly so they get an even coating. If this does not work the first time, it is totally ok, the taste of the caramelized chili macadamia will get you hooked and you might want to try them just for pre-dinner drinks! Practice is the key to success.
Once cooled on a parchment paper you can cut them up.
Now you need gloves to peel the already cooled beets, cut them with the help of a hovel in thin slices arrange them on a platter, drizzled with the extra olive oil, add generously the academia crunch, Maldon sea salt and at last:
Mix the plain yoghurt with the olive oil and the lemon juice and decorate the platter just before eating in any way with a good helping of the yoghurt. Try to do it last, the beets will bleed into the yoghurt otherwise. Fresh cilantro on top and it is READY !
RECIPE
12 medium sized red beets
smoked salt
4 tbsp olive oil
- plus extra for the drizzle
tin foil for cover
Nut Crunch
100 gr macadamia/ hazelnut or cashew
45 gr brown sugar
chili
Yoghurt
250 gr plain yoghurt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
Fresh cilantro, Maldon sea salt
Beets are a unique source of phytonutrients called betalains. Betanin and vulgaxanthin are the two best-studied betalains from beets, and both have been shown to provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification support. Read more ...
The recipe is inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi
