Salad of roasted baby root vegetables & walnuts

1.Preheat oven to 180°C fanbake. On a baking tray lay a piece of tinfoil large enough to enclose the beets.

2.Cut the medium beetroot into wedges of a similar size to the whole baby beets. Place these and the baby beets on the foil. Sprinkle with sugar, balsamic, ¼ cup olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Place the sprig of herbs on top then fold over the foil and roll and crimp the edges firmly to completely encase the beets.

3.Place tray in the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until the beets feel tender when pierced with a sharp knife. Set aside to rest and cool slightly.

4.Meanwhile, line a large roasting dish with baking paper. Lay the carrots, turnips, radishes and fennel (if using) in the dish. Drizzle with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper and bake for 20 minutes until vegetables are starting to soften and the edges turn slightly golden (don’t overcook them – you still want a bit of crunch). Cook them at the same time as the beets; just give the beets a 10-minute head start.

5.In a small bowl break up the goat’s cheese and lightly fold together with the mascarpone.

6.To assemble the salad, divide the dish of baby vegetables between plates then nestle the beets around them, taking care to reserve the vinegary cooking liquor to use as a dressing. Scatter over a few walnuts and some watercress, and dot with small spoonfuls of the goat’s cheese mixture.

7.Just before serving, drizzle the red beet vinegar cooking liquor over the salad and season with a little salt and pepper. Drizzle with a dash of olive oil if desired. You can eat this salad warm or cold.