Roast beetroot salad

In the past, we have always followed family tradition and make the same salads each year at Christmas time. Over the last few years we have branched out of our comfort zone and made different salads. This has applied to desserts also as we always have trifle at Christmas and only ever at Christmas!!! It is funny how we only ever make certain things for certain times of the year but it's time to break tradition I feel.

This salad is one of those that broke the Maude and Betty family Christmas tradition mould last year. We've also started including it our family BBQ rotation as it has been an absolute winner. However, as said, the first time it was trotted out was last year's Chrismas and though my personal salad critic wasn't actually present (B was busy producing her own little bundle to add to our growing family functions) the Mother of M & B was the official taste tester that day and I received the thumbs up from her. My little people weren't so in love with it as a whole but do love digging through for the bits they do like. You could easily make it the night before like I have done as the flavours of the orange and horseradish dressing still shine through without the lettuce wilting too much.

Do you have any family favourite dishes for certain celebration events?

You will need: (adapted from Janelle Bloom "My favourite food for all seasons")
1 bunch medium (about 700g) beetroot, peeled
1 bunch baby carrots, scrubbed
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon horseradish cream
1/2 orange, juiced
2 oranges, peeled, segmented
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, coarsely chopped
100g salad leaves - depends on the beetroot you buy, but there may be enough fresh leaves to use or rocket or mixed leaves will do.
50g goats cheese

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Remove the leaves from the beetroot and set any small leaves aside. Trim the roots and stems of the beets, leaving about 2cm of each stem (I forgot to do this the first time I made this salad as you can see by the pictures) Cut into quarters or eighths depending on their size. Place in a large greased roasting pan and add the carrots.

Combine the olive oil, brown sugar, horseradish cream, 2 tablespoons orange juice and salt and pepper in a screw-top jar and shake well to combine. Pour half the dressing over the beetroots and carrots and toss to coat. Roast for 30-40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes

Add the orange segments, walnuts, salad leaves and any reserved beetroot leaves to the pan. Crumble over the goats cheese and pour over remaining dressing. Toss gently to combine. Pile onto a platter.

Enjoy! X