Baked Goat's Cheese with Roast Beetroot and a Walnut Oil Dressing

Baked Goat's Cheese with Roast Beetroot and a Walnut Oil Dressing

At this time of year I love cooking with beetroot – and I don't mean that plastic-wrapped pickled stuff that can be so sharp it can be used to scrape wallpaper. One ingredient that goes supremely well with freshly roasted beetroot is goat's cheese, its creamy, tangy saltiness almost caressing the soft, sweet flesh of the beetroot in a loving embrace. This literally lip-smacking recipe comes from The Punch Bowl Inn in Crosthwaite, Cumbria and featured in The Gastropub Cookbook. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
2 medium beetroot
50g unsalted butter, melted
2 sheets ready-made filo pastry
1/2 goat's cheese log, cut into 4 x 2cm slices
black pepper
olive oil
24 button onions, peeled
a little peanut oil
generous handful of frisée, watercress, rocket or lamb's lettuce

For the walnut oil dressing:
1 tsp Dijon mustard
25ml walnut oil
45ml sunflower oil
12.5ml white wine vinegar

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6. Scrub the beetroots, wrap tightly in foil and bake for 2 1/2 hours, or until tender.
2. Leave to cool, then peel and cut into thick chunks.
3. Brush the melted butter on a sheet of filo pastry and lay another sheet on top. Cut out 4 x 7cm circles and place on a greased baking sheet and bake in the oven for 5 minutes until golden brown.
4. Turn up the oven to 240C/475F/gas 9. Put the goat's cheese on top of the pastry, season with black pepper, drizzle with olive oil and bake for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is golden and melting.
5. Put the beetroot wedges on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with black pepper, then roast, also for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, fry the onions in the peanut oil until golden on the outside and tender in the middle.
6. Make the dressing by whisking the mustard with the salt and pepper in a medium-sized bowl. Gradually add the oils and wine vinegar, whisking continuously until combined.
7. Toss the salad leaves in the dressing. Arrange on 4 plates, place the goat's cheese pastry on top and the onions around it.