' BEETROOT & GOATS CHEESE SALAD .'

Goats cheese & Beetroot roulade , Goats cheese panna cotta Whole pickled & Sliced fresh baby beets , Beetroot & goats milk emulsion, Pea greens , French tarragon , Water hyssop flowers & Cypress black salt.

                     Just the one post this week, a little slack I know but I guess one is better than none. I've been a bit busy finishing the chook palace in the back corner of the yard, stage one of what I call 'protein corner'. We purchased our girls today and they've settled in quite well. Anyway this light little dish I've presented here is a variation of a beetroot and goats cheese salad. The goats cheese I chose for this came from 'South Cape Fine Foods' and having aged a little longer, is creamy and a little earthy in flavour. More so than the tangy taste of a younger cheese made from goats milk. And its these characteristics which allow the cheese to pair so well with the earthy, sweet tones of the root vegetable beetroot. Each of the two ingredients have three applications and intertwine flavours of tartness and sweet along with textural contrasts of fresh, crunchy, creamy and soft.                            
                    This salad began with the preparation of the roulade of which I first placed into a saucepan some milk, cubed goats cheese and agar agar at 1%. This was brought to the simmer whisking to dissolve the agar and also melt the cheese through the milk. Once simmering I removed the pot from the stove and using a funnel I poured the panna cotta mix into plastic cylinders and placed into the fridge to set. Next I heated some beetroot juice in a saucepan with 1% agar  and brought to the simmer whisking to dissolve the agar powder. This was then removed from the stove and poured onto a flat tray and spread to about 2mm thick this was then allowed to set at room temp. I then un-moulded the goats cheese, with one cylinder I left as is for the goats cheese panna cotta slicing it into bite size pieces. For the thicker cylinder I trimmed up the ends, measured the length and cut the corresponding sized rectangle out of the beetroot gelee. Placing the goats cheese roll at one end of the gelee, I rolled cheese in the beetroot film. I then sliced some of the the complete rolled roulade of varying sizes and some really thin slices were cut to make the faux radish. With some whole baby beets I peeled them placing a few into some water, rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt bringing them to the boil and reducing to a simmer until soft and tender. With the remainder of the fresh beet I simply thinly sliced and presented as is. To make the emulsion dressing I placed goats milk, honey, sherry vinegar, beetroot juice and a little seasoning into a tall tumbler along with some granulated soy lecithin and blended using a stick blender to form a foam, this was then refrigerated until serving time so the bubbles hold their structure, hence don't make this prep till last. To plate I garnished the dish with some pea greens, petite french tarragon, water hyssop flowers and a sprinkling of Cypress black sea salt. Next time I think I will have the addition of some fresh beetroot leaves and some tiny thinly sliced red onion rings.                                                    

' BLOOD ORANGE & BEETROOT TARTLET .'

Blood orange & Beetroot Tartlet , Beetroot panna cotta , Persian cucumber , Asparagus , Hummus , Swiss cheese , Rocket , Red oak , Blood orange and edible flowers.

               This is a dish put together with left over ingredients making their way to areas of the fridge that don't see light, out of sight out of mind the saying goes, but not this time. I made use of these awol. veggies before it was to late and they become food for my worm farm. It came together quite well considering, the ingredients are slightly random but surprisingly works together and this would make a fabulous light lunch, brunch type deal. Next time I would just add a bit more beet juice to the panna cotta to try and achieve a more purple, maroon beetroot coloration rather than the strawberry looking one I've made.      
                The sweet shortcrust pastry was the first preparation for this meal, starting by combining flour, butter and sugar in a food processor to make a fine crumb, to this I added egg yolk and chilled water and processed bringing together a dough before turning the pastry onto a floured work bench and rolling out to a 3-4 mm thick disc. This was then covered between two sheets of baking paper and placed in the fridge for 30 minutes. Greasing muffin tins, I then cut circles with a glass out of the pastry and lined the muffin inserts. In a bowl I grated beetroot and mixed with blood orange juice, sugar, egg and a little flour, this was then spooned into the pastry shells and placed into a 170 deg.c. oven and cooked for about 25-30 minutes until the filling was cooked and the pastry just  browning. These were then removed and allowed to cool before serving. To make the panna cotta I simple heated in a small saucepan milk, cream, sugar, beetroot juice and agar agar at 2%. This was then brought to a simmer whisking to dissolve the sugar and agar powder, this was then poured into a 10 mm plastic tube and set in the fridge. I poured the remaining mixture onto a flat tray and placed it in the fridge to set. While these were setting I prepared the asparagus by washing, trimming and blanching asparagus spears of which were then steeped in an ice bath to stop the cooking procedure. The cucumber was shaved using a veggie peeler, trimmed and dressed in olive oil and seasoned. The lettuce greens were simply tossed in seasoned olive oil before being plated. I then made a hummus by placing chick peas, tahini, garlic, olive oil, cumin and lemon juice in a blender and processed to combine adding a little water and blending to make a smooth paste.