Beetroot orange salad or its haloumi cousin

It’s been too long since I’ve shared a recipe but I promise it has not been due to lack of cooking or food inspiration.  This year I’ve spent far more hours helping clients put meal plans together, so yes, I’ve been very busy adjusting or concocting recipes but I’ve had less time to share them here in writing.
And now that it’s freezing outside in Dorset – in most of UK in fact – when everyone is hankering for steaming stews or warming soups I’m about to hand you some salad ideas!
(Well, it’s warm somewhere in the world right now 😉 )
There is some method to my madness.  What I’ve found over these past cold weeks is that I’m still wanting to keep the fresh crispness of salads in my life.  By adding a warm component to the salad leaves – in this case cooked warm beetroot – it’s proving to be a delicious accompaniment to our caper wild salmon or roasted chicken.  And it’s satisfying my craving for crispy fresh, raw veg.  Is this me trying to hang onto the hot summer?

Another easy version is to keep the core family together, ie. the salad leaves, orange and poms, but replace the warm beetroot with grilled slices of haloumi, equally scrummy.

Enjoy, and do share some photos of yours  x

Ingredients:

Rocket or any mixed leaves for your salad base.  Your choice how much!
1 large orange, segmented (remove the white membranes if you have time on your hands)
3 medium beetroot, cooked then remove skins and quarter or cube the beets
3-5 tbsp pomegranate seeds
sunflower seeds to sprinkle

Ingredients for dressing:

Add to a jar:  the juice of 1/2 orange and 1/2 lemon, a generous dollop of virgin olive oil, 1 pressed garlic clove, sea salt and some water to bind the mixture. Shake, taste and adjust x

Method:

Simply layer your salad by starting with the mixed leaves, then adding the warm (or cold, your choice) cubed/quartered beetroot and segmented orange pieces.  Then finally sprinkle those glorious pomegranate seeds on top, and that’s it.  The joy of this salad is that the fabulous tastes are what sell it, not any complicated prep or cooking.