To make our cover recipe, omit the beetroot chips and hummus. Serve the beetroot salsa with 100g goat’s cheese, toasted ciabatta and mixed olives. Garnish with beetroot baby greens.
Cook’s tip: Find beetroot baby greens at selected Spar and Fruit & Veg City stores; Magic Herbs, 022-931-3209; or Kazi Farms, 079 509 3494.
Beetroot meze platter
Ingredients
Beetroot chips
- 2 beetroots, peeled
- vegetable oil, for frying
- sea salt, to taste
Beetroot salsa
- 100g beetroot, cooked, peeled and evenly chopped
- 1 x 400g tin butter beans, drained
- a handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- zest of 1 lemon
Beetroot hummus
- 1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained
- 125ml (½ cup) plain yoghurt
- juice of ½ lemon
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 red chilli, seeded
- a handful of fresh coriander, stalks removed
- 100g beetroot, cooked and peeled
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- beetroot baby greens, to garnish (see Cook’s Tip)
- green olives, to serve
- breadsticks, to serve
Instructions
For the beetroot chips, preheat the oven to 100ºC.
Use a mandolin or a vegetable peeler to slice the beetroot into paper-thin slices.
Heat the oil in a medium-sized saucepan over a moderate heat. Fry the beetroot chips for about 20 seconds. Drain on paper towel, arrange the chips on a baking tray and season. Dry the chips in the oven until crisp, about 45 minutes – 1 hour.
For the salsa, combine all the ingredients and spoon into a bowl.
For the hummus, purée all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Spoon into a serving bowl.
Arrange the beetroot chips, salsa and hummus on a serving platter. Scatter the beetroot baby greens over and serve with green olives and breadsticks.
Notes
To drink: Hidden Valley Shiraz 2005 is spicy with a hint of beetroot. It’s more savoury than syrupy and is a good match for this platter.
