Beetroot salad with sweet and sour dressing

Pomegranate is the tangy foil to the earthy flavour of beetroot here, while crisp witlof and crunchy hazelnuts take this salad up another notch. Prep time 20 mins, cook 1 hr (plus cooling) Serves 6-8

700 gm (4 medium) beetroot, trimmed

Olive oil, for drizzling

1 salad onion, bulb only, thinly sliced

375 gm (about 3) witlof, leaves separated Seeds from ½ pomegranate

35 gm (¼ cup) roasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped Sweet and sour dressing 60 ml ( 1/ cup) extra-virgin olive oil

4

1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

1 tbsp cabernet vinegar (or another aged red wine vinegar)

1 Preheat oven to 180C. Place beetroot on separate pieces of foil large enough to wrap them. Drizzle with oil and 1 tsp water, wrap tightly to enclose and roast on a baking tray until tender when pierced with a knife (50 minutes to 1 hour). Set aside to cool (20-30 minutes), then peel, cut into wedges and transfer to a bowl.

2 For sweet and sour dressing, whisk ingredients in a bowl. Season to taste, then add to beetroot with half the salad onion and toss to coat.

3 Layer beetroot, witlof and pomegranate seeds in a salad bowl, scatter with remaining onion and hazelnuts, drizzle with extra dressing and serve.>