Roasted Beetroot With Pearl Barley And Spiced Yoghurt

Ingredient

Labneh:
500g Jalna natural yogurt
300ml Red Island extra virgin olive oil
1 long Thai chilli, roughly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 sticks of rosemary
1/2 lemon, zest removed with a peeler

½ tsp garam marsala
orange zest
½ cup yoghurt

Salad mix:
2 bunches baby purple beets
200g whole grain farro
1 head of radicchio
1 bunch flat leaf parsley - leaves picked
50g peeled and toasted pistachio nuts
50 g pomegranate seeds
Salt and pepper to taste

Dressing:
1.5 tsp dijon mustard
Zest of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, finely grated
30 red wine vinegar
15ml balsamic vinegar
75ml Red Island extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Method

Labneh:
Place some cheesecloth or Chux inside a sieve large enough to hold all of the yogurt.

Place the strainer on top of a bowl so that it suspended and the whey from the yogurt will drip away from the labneh. Hang the labneh overnight in the fridge.

Place the chilli, garlic, rosemary and lemon zest in a bowl and cover with the olive oil.

Using two spoons, dip them in olive oil before making quenelles of the labneh. Store them in the olive oil mixture. They will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks if they're fully submerged in the oil

Salad Mix:
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.

Remove the stems and leaves from the beetroots, cutting them off 3cm from the base of the beets.

Place the beetroots into a roasting tray, give them a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Roast the beets in the oven for 30 - 45 minutes until you can just pass a knife through the beetroot without resistance.

Take the beets out of the oven and once they’re cool enough to touch, wipe the skin away from the flesh with some chux or an old tea towel. Depending on the size of the beetroots you may want to cut the bigger ones in half. Leave to set aside.

Whilst the beets are in the oven, cook the farro in boiling salted water for 20 minutes.

To prepare the radicchio, remove the outer leaves and then cut the head in half. Remove the core from the head and then roughly chop into 2-3cm chunks. Wash the radicchio in cold water and set aside.

Dressing:
Place all of the ingredients into a jar and shake like crazy for 10 seconds.

To make the salad, throw the beetroots, farro, radicchio and parsley into a large mixing bowl.

Pour over a good amount of the dressing, season with salt and pepper and gently toss the salad making sure that all of the components are coated in the dressing.

Transfer the salad mix to your serving bowl and top with a few quenelles of the labneh, and handful of pistachios and pomegranate seeds.

Recipe by Andy Allen