ROASTED BEETROOT & DOLCELATTE SALAD; FENNEL, CUMIN & CARDAMOM SPICED CARROTS

Roasting carrots with cumin isn’t anything new, but I had to share what we ate last night – wonderfully fresh, sweet carrots spiced with fennel, cumin and just a little cardamom, freshened up with some spring onion and fresh coriander.  We ate them alongside a simple roasted beetroot and Dolcelatte salad.  I’d posted the recipe for the salad back in November, but the combination of crisp salad leaves, sticky cheese, soft beetroot, tangy olives, sweet chilli jam, and toasted pine nuts… Hard to beat and well worth promoting, thus I’m posting it again today!

 

 

 

Ingredients

For the carrots:

400g carrots (about 5 medium)

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 green cardamom pods

1 tsp. fennel seeds

1 tsp. cumin seeds

Rock salt, to taste

1 spring onion, sliced

About 1 tbsp. coriander, roughly torn

 

 

For the salad:

400g beetroot (about 4 medium), already roasted, cooled and peeled

50g Dolcelatte

Salad leaves

1 tbsp. chilli jam (you can find my recipe here)

1 tbsp. olive oil (optional)

A handful green olives

15g pine nuts

 

 

Method

For the carrots:

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Slice the carrots in half lengthways, then arrange in an ovenproof dish large enough to accommodate them all.  Drizzle over one tablespoon of olive oil, then use a pastry brush to make sure they all get evenly coated on both sides.  Use a pestle and mortar to crush the cardamom seeds with the salt, and sprinkle over the carrots, followed by the fennel and cumin seeds.

Cover with foil, then roast for about thirty minutes, until beginning to soften up, then remove the foil and continue to cook until done.  I like them when they’re soft and beginning to caramelise on the edges.  Remove from the oven and let cool before sprinkling with the spring onion and coriander.

 

 

For the salad:

Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan until they take on some colour.

Roughly chop the beetroot, then toss with the chilli jam and olive oil.  Through over the salad leaves, add the cheese, cut into chunks, the olives, and finally sprinkle over the pine nuts.

Tags: Beetroot, beetroot salad, Cardamom, carrots, Chilli Jam, cumin, Dolcelatte, Fennel, green olives, roasted carrots, Salad