This is a great little salad that brings together Moorish flavors and some common Canadian staples: beet and apple.
As with most things, you get what you pay for with this dish. It really pays to seek out a good quality sherry vinegar and virgin olive oil, which will take this dish from good to great. It also relies on some harder to find ingredients: manchego cheese—a hard, sheep’s milk cheese from La Mancha—and ras el hanout—a North African spice blend.
You can use any kind of beet or apple you like; at the restaurant, we use organic Chioggia (aka candycane) beets and honeycrisp apples.
Ingredients:
- 500g roasted beets, cut into wedges
- 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 50 ml sherry vinegars
- 1 tsp ras el hanout
- 1 apple, core removed and cut into thin wedges
- 100g grated manchego cheese
- sea salt to taste
Instructions:
Toss the beets in some salt and olive oil and roast (covered) in oven at 400F until cooked through, about 45-60 minutes.
When the beets are cooked, let them cool just until you can handle them and peel off the skins—this part can be done in advance.
Cut the beets lengthwise into wedges.
In a large bowl, add the beet wedges, sea salt, ras al hanout, olive oil, and sherry vinegar and mix well.
Plate the beets and dressing.
Slice apple wedges and arrange on top of the beets—do this right before serving so they don’t discolour.
Grate the manchego on top of the beets and apples.
Drizzle any dressing remaining in the bowl around the plate and garnish with your favorite green herbs.
