Beetroot, Carrot, Mange Tout + Pea (serves 3 or 4)
Ingredients:
4 medium beetroot
6 heritage carrots
200g mange tout
2 handfuls fresh peas
30g dill
30g mint
olive or avocado oil
Start by cooking the beetroot (if you want to skip this part you can buy pre-cooked beetroot, although homemade is much healthier :). Cut the tops off the beetroot if not already done, and wash well removing any dirt. With skin on, add to a pan of water along with the star anise, peppercorns and bay leaf (juniper berry is also lovely if you have), and boil until a fork goes through easily. This may take over an hour, so it’s important to check every 15mins or so to add more water otherwise it will evaporate and boil down to a dry pan. Once cooked, drain and leave to cool.
Whilst the beetroot is cooking you can prepare everything else. Preheat the oven to 180C. Peel the carrots and chop in a diagonal direction (it looks pretty!) about 1cm thick. Add to a roasting dish, sprinkle with oil, salt and pepper and roast until the carrots are al dente and just golden (they don’t need to be super soft, but once a fork goes through easily they’re fine - a little crunch is nice!). You can use the air fryer for about 25minutes for the same result.
Depending on what equipment you have you can either cook the mange tout on a cast iron griddle, a pan or you can also blanch. For the cast iron griddle or pan, coat with a little oil and once hot fry quickly until they start to go bright green and a little charred. This doesn’t take long, they need to only be just cooked, move them around a bit and turn over a few times as you are cooking them. Remove from heat when done. If you'd like to blanch them, you can do with the fresh peas (below).
To cook the fresh peas (you can also leave them raw!) fill a saucepan of water and bring to the boil. Once rapidly boiling, drop the peas in for no more than one minute - they will be bright green and just cooked. Same with the mange tout.
Once the beetroot is semi cooled, peel the skins off and slice into small wedges. Add to a salad bowl with the carrots, greens + chopped herbs. Drizzle with olive oil and a little seasoning.
