Sometimes you just walk into the kitchen and start cooking with whatever’s available. Before you know it, you’ve cooked a wonderful dish worthy of high culinary dinner. Well ladies and gentlemen, this is one of those dishes. A delicate combination of rich and warm flavours that make each meal a feast of its own! I use for this recipe the salt-baked beetroots, but you can replace them with cooked ones (check the info at the end of the recipe). What makes this dish even better is the fact that you can cook each part separately and combine it with other recipes. The ragout, for instance, is a great substitute for purees, the cauliflower goes very well with hummus on bread and the red cabbage is delicious with dishes with red meats. Let’s get cookin’!
Ingredients
Celeriac ragout
- 400 gr celeriac, peeled and cut in small cubes
- 200 gr potato, peeled and cut in small cubes
- 0,5 l vegetable stock
- 125 ml double cream
- Zest from 1 lemon
- Parmigiano Reggiano
- Olive oil
Braised red cabbage
- 1/2 red cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 60 ml red wine vinegar
- 50 gr sugar
- 3-4 leaves sage
- 375 ml red wine
- Salt and pepper
Salt baked red beetroots
- 4 small beetroots
- 500 gr salt
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 egg white
Roasted cauliflower
- 1/2 cauliflower, cut in bite-size pieces
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half
- 6 thyme sprigs
- 125 gr canned chickpeas, drained
- Salt
- Olive oil
Directions
- Preheat the oven at 190ºC.
- Clean the beetroots thoroughly. Roughly chop the thyme and mix them with the salt and egg white.
- Cover an oven tray with baking parchment. Spread a layer of the salt mixture in the middle. Place the beetroots on top and cover completely with the rest of the salt. Make sure you don’t leave holes open.
- Bake the beetroots 2,5 hours.
- Break the salt crust open, remove the baked beetroots and peel them.
- For the cabbage, add the sugar and vinegar to a pan and bring to a simmer. Reduce the mixture to a thin syrup consistency, then add the onion and red cabbage.
- Sweat the cabbage about 15 minutes, then add the pepper and sage. Pour over the wine, cover and cook on low heat until the cabbage is soft. Season to taste with salt.
- For the ragout, heat a bit of oil in a pan, add the cubes and let the oil coat them. Pour over the vegetable stock. Once cooked, strain and pour over the cream and lemon zest. Cover and leave to set.
- For the cauliflower, preheat the oven at 220ºC.
- Mix all the ingredients together and spread on an oven dish lined with baking parchment. Bake for 15 minutes.
- To serve, scoop the ragout onto a deep dish and grate some Parmigiano Reggiano. Top with the cabbage and sliced beetroots. Finish off with the cauliflower and chickpeas and a drizzle of the cabbage sauce.
