Balsamic Roasted Beets with 

Cauliflower, Garlic and Walnut Mash

Serves: 4

Prep: 30 min

Cooking: 30 min

This is a Guest Recipe from Lazy Cat Kitchen for a great Vegan idea to serve roasted Beetroot.

Ingredients

450 g / 1 lb cauliflower florets (1 medium cauliflower)

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 head of garlic

450 g / 1 lb raw beetroot

½ tsp salt, more to taste

120 ml / ½ cup almond (or other neutral tasting) milk

60 ml / ¼ cup roasted walnut butter*, shop-bought or see below

30 ml / 2 tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

black pepper, to taste

½ tsp ground cumin (optional)

2 tbsp balsamic glaze / reduction, shop-bought or see below

roasted walnuts, to garnish

fresh thyme leaves, or finely chopped green tops of spring onions to garnish

WALNUT BUTTER (if making from scratch)

200 g / 2 cups walnuts

BALSAMIC GLAZE REDUCTION (if making from scratch)

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp maple syrup or sugar, adjust to taste

AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DO.....

1. Heat up the oven to 200° C / 390° F and grab a very large baking tray. It’s important not to overcrowd the tray so if your tray isn’t large enough, you may need to roast the cauliflower and the beets separately.
   
   
2. Divide cauliflower into medium, same size as much as possible, florets. Stir 2 tsp of olive oil through it and arrange the pieces on one half of the baking tray, cut sides down.
   
   
3. Cut the tops of the garlic head off so that all the individual cloves are exposed, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in the piece of kitchen foil and place on the same tray.
   
   
4. Finally, scrub and peel (you can leave the peel on if you like) all of the beetroots. Cut them into wedges, small ones 4 ways, medium ones 6 ways and really big one 8 ways. Coat in 1 tbsp of olive oil and season with salt. Arrange them on the other side of the tray.
   
   
5. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, flipping the florets and beetroot wedges to the other side 15 minutes in – you want the florets to be charred on one side before flipping them over.
   
   
6. Place roasted / steamed cauliflower florets in a blender (you can use a food processor but the dip won’t be as smooth) together with almond milk, walnut butter, vinegar / lemon juice, squeezed out roasted garlic cloves (I used 6, use as many as you prefer). Process until super smooth – you will need to stop the blender and scrape down the sides from time to time. Season with salt, pepper and cumin. To make the dip / mash extra smooth and indulgent, you may want to add a little bit of walnut oil or extra virgin olive oil.
   
   
7. Spread the cauliflower dip on a large plate / platter and arrange the roasted beets artfully on top. Drizzle with balsamic reduction, scatter roasted walnuts and fresh thyme leaves on top.
   
   

WALNUT BUTTER (makes 240 ml / 1 cup)

1. Heat up the oven to 180° C / 350° F.
   
   
2. Spread walnuts on a large baking sheet and roast in the preheated oven for about 8 minutes, until golden and fragrant.
   
   
3. Cool.
   
   
4. Place roasted walnuts in a food processor and process until you obtain a walnut butter. It took my very old Kenwood 3 minutes so it shouldn’t take that long at all. Transfer the butter to a jar and store in the fridge (it keeps for at least 1 month).
   
   

BALSAMIC GLAZE / REDUCTION

1. Place balsamic vinegar and maple syrup (or sugar) in a small pot, mix well and place on a low heat.
   
   
2. Simmer gently to reduce to the desired consistency (the length of time depends on the quality of the balsamic vinegar, the more runny type of balsamic will take longer to reduce). The tricky part here is that it is only possible to judge the reduction once the mixture has cooled down completely so it’s easy to over reduce or not reduce enough. That’s not a problem though – if you over reduced, bring it back with a small splash of water. If not reduced enough, return the pot to the stove and simmer some more.

NOTES

*You can use tahini instead, but roasted walnut butter works so much better and it gives the dish a lovely umami flavour.