Hairy Bittercress & Roasted Beetroot Salad

The combination of Hairy Bittercress?s (Cardamine hirsuta) earthy flavours with the sweet, salt and acidic dressing and the vivid contrast of colours makes a wonderful Autumnal warm salad.

Ingredients

4 beetroot (weighing about 500g)
50g sunflower and/or pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons oil (I used hemp but olive is fine)
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
60g hairy bitter cress
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Suggested Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200ºC gas mark 6.
Wash the beetroot and wrap individually in foil. Bake for 45-60 minutes. Check each one after ¾ hour as cooking times can vary, they should be tender when pierced with a skewer.
Spread the seeds out on a baking tray and toast in the oven with the beetroot for 8 minutes when they should be lightly browned.
Whisk the maple syrup, oil and vinegar together.
While the beetroot are still warm, unwrap and peel them with a small knife. Halve, quarter and then halve each quarter
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Have a taste, you need to get the balance right between the salt, sweet and acidic flavours. Adjust accordingly if they are not quite correct.

Serves: 4