This playful yet elegant plant-forward take on carpaccio blends earthy beets (both cooked and raw) with a spice mix reminiscent of pastrami and a silky nut cream. It’s balanced with peppery nasturtium leaves and an orange juice vinaigrette.

Ingredients

8 golden and red beetroots (about 1.2kg), trimmed and scrubbed

2 target beetroot (see note), trimmed

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

Finely grated zest and juice of ½ an orange

Red baby nasturtium leaves and society garlic flowers, to serve

Hazelnut cream

150 gm roasted hazelnuts

60 ml (¼ cup) extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp aged red wine vinegar

1 small garlic clove, finely grated

Spiced pepper mix

1 tsp each fennel seeds, black peppercorns and pink peppercorns

2 tsp thyme leaves

Method

1.Preheat oven to 160˚C fan-forced. Wrap each beetroot in baking paper then foil; place on a tray and roast until tender (50 minutes – 1 hour). Cool slightly, then peel.

2.For hazelnut cream, place hazelnuts in a small bowl; cover with 150ml boiling water and set aside until cooled to room temperature (15 minutes). Transfer soaked hazelnut mixture and remaining ingredients to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth; season to taste. Set aside at room temperature until required.

3.For spiced pepper mix, dry-roast fennel seeds and black peppercorns in a small frying pan over medium-high heat until fragrant (1 minute). Transfer to a mortar and pestle; add pink peppercorns and coarsely grind. Stir in thyme and ½ tsp sea salt.

4.Place oil, vinegar, orange zest and juice in a sealed jar and season to taste; shake well to combine.

5.Thinly slice roasted and target beetroot using a mandolin.

6.Spoon hazelnut cream over a platter, top with roasted and raw beetroot, drizzle with orange dressing and scatter with pepper mix, nasturtium leaves and society garlic flowers.

Target beetroot is available from select greengrocers.
Notes

Maxwell Adey Senior Food Editor & Stylist

Maxwell has always been passionate about food. Born into a restaurateur and award-winning produce farming family, he was strongly steered into pursuing a career in advertising after completing his Bachelor of Public Communication at University of Technology, Sydney. After a very short stint, he decided to enrol in Commercial Cookery at TAFE to follow his true passion. Maxwell started out working in some of Sydney’s finest restaurants (Est., Claude’s and Moon Park) which helped further his love of all things culinary and developed his technical ability to cook. Later, he was lured into the magical world of food publishing where he freelanced for ten years for notable Australian commercial and editorial brands. He has also run his own business where he sells his marinated olives, dressings and sauces at food markets and select retailers. He excitingly joins the Gourmet Traveller team to bring his technical and creative expertise in food to the brand.

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Styling by Olivia Blackmore

Ingredients

Method

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