Roasted Red & Candy Stripe Beets, Hazelnut Cream, Dehydrated Niçoise Olives, Powdered Truffle Oil, Hazelnut Nougatine, Purslane, Basil & Cilantro
Let me start this post by saying that I love beets and goat cheese as a pairing. They are perfect together, both having intense sweet and earthy flavors. It's really easy to go back to this pairing when thinking about beets. I originally thought of using goat's milk or yogurt for this dish but instead decided to challenge myself a little more by not taking this path. So I started thinking about other things I had around that would also go really well with beets. And this is what I came up with which worked really well. I especially like eating beets and basil together but everything else either matched or complemented their flavor perfectly.
The beets were seasoned with salt and pepper, rubbed with olive oil and wrapped in tin foil. They were roasted in the oven for about an hour, cooled, peeled and sliced.
I made the "cream" by heating hazelnut milk with sugar and agar agar til the solids were dissolved. I chilled the milk for a few hours to set it into a gel. I then pureed the gel with some of the hazelnut milk and passed it through a fine mesh tamis for a smooth pudding-like cream.
I drained the olives on paper towels and then dried them in my dehydrator overnight to achieve a chewy, slightly crunchy texture. I crumbled the olives into small pieces using my hands.
I combined black truffle oil with salt and maltodextrin, combing them with a fork and then passing the paste through a mesh screen resulting in a light fine powder that melts back into oil when it touches your tongue.
I cooked some hazelnuts in honey and sugar until they reached a deep amber color. I spread them out onto a silpat to cool before chopping them up.
I finished off the plate with some raw and undressed purslane, basil, basil flowers and cilantro flowers.
Product -
Organic Red and Candy Stripe Beets - Root Mass Farm
Organic Purslane - Queen's Farm
Organic Basil - Root Mass Farm
Organic Coriander - My Garden
The beets were seasoned with salt and pepper, rubbed with olive oil and wrapped in tin foil. They were roasted in the oven for about an hour, cooled, peeled and sliced.
I made the "cream" by heating hazelnut milk with sugar and agar agar til the solids were dissolved. I chilled the milk for a few hours to set it into a gel. I then pureed the gel with some of the hazelnut milk and passed it through a fine mesh tamis for a smooth pudding-like cream.
I drained the olives on paper towels and then dried them in my dehydrator overnight to achieve a chewy, slightly crunchy texture. I crumbled the olives into small pieces using my hands.
I combined black truffle oil with salt and maltodextrin, combing them with a fork and then passing the paste through a mesh screen resulting in a light fine powder that melts back into oil when it touches your tongue.
I cooked some hazelnuts in honey and sugar until they reached a deep amber color. I spread them out onto a silpat to cool before chopping them up.
I finished off the plate with some raw and undressed purslane, basil, basil flowers and cilantro flowers.
Product -
Organic Red and Candy Stripe Beets - Root Mass Farm
Organic Purslane - Queen's Farm
Organic Basil - Root Mass Farm
Organic Coriander - My Garden