Recipe and photography from The Alimental Sage @thealimentalsage

Serves 4-6 (as a side). 

3 medium beetroots
½ cup of walnut halves
1 tbs of honey
½ tsp of cinnamon
75g of feta or creamy goat’s cheese
Olive oil
Course salt/pepper
Fresh mint leaves
 
Method
For the candied walnuts
 
Dry roast walnuts in a hot pan for 1-2 mins (tossing regularly), until they begin to turn golden. Add honey and cinnamon and toss again to coat nuts. Allow walnuts to caramelise for another 1-2 minutes in honey mixture (but don’t let them mixture burn (easy to do). Remove honeyed nuts from pan and allow them to cool completely. The nuts will harden and become ‘candied’ as they cool.
 
(Note: For convenience, prepare walnuts ahead of time- they are best made and eaten within the week. Store in an airtight container.)
 
For the beetroot 
 
Preheat oven to 250 degrees celcius.
Wash and dry beetroot, and remove the ‘gnarly’ bits from the top and bottom of the root.
To oven roast, individually wrap each beetroot in foil, and place on baking tray.
Bake for 40-50 minutes (checking them regularly) until tender and a fork can be easily inserted into the beet.
Allow beetroot to cool enough to be handled, before gently peeling off the thin outer skin (should be easy to remove once cooked).
 
(Note: For convenience, prepare beetroot ahead of time and store in a glass container in the refrigerator)
 
To assemble the salad
 
Cut roasted beetroot into large, even-sized, chunks and place in bowl.
Toss beetroot with generous amounts of olive oil and season with salt/pepper to taste.
Arrange beetroot on serving platter/in bowl and top with crumbled goat’s cheese, candied walnuts and torn fresh mint leaves. To avoid a great pink mess, layer the elements, rather than tossing the whole salad before serving.
 
Leftovers will keep refrigerated for 1-2 days.