After the excesses of Christmas and New Year, I find myself craving salads, soups and vegetable sides in general. Today’s recipe is a delicious and beautiful to look at beetroot salad with horseradish cream.

This beetroot salad uses only a few staple ingredients and is quite simple to put together while it can look impressive at the same time. It’s a perfect dish to whip up for a special occasion like upcoming Valentine’s Day, for example, especially that beetroot has been considered an aphrodisiac in many cultures for centuries, wink wink.

This recipe has been inspired by two things. Firstly, a delicious beetroot salad at a gorgeous Bath restaurant called Oak and secondly by my late grandad and specifically his love of horseradish and beets. Horseradish and beets are such a classic combination and one that I grew up on as it’s a Polish cuisine staple.

My first memory of horseradish is my grandad encouraging me to try it without telling me that if I have a little too much it will send a rocket up my nose 😉 …perhaps it’s because he himself was such an avid fan of it.

While this beetroot salad with horseradish may look complicated, it really isn’t. If you are not making it for a special occasion, don’t worry about plating it with any kind of precision. It’s a dish made out of humble ingredients and so a more rustic plating will be just as beautiful. At the core of this salad is beetroot prepared two ways. I sliced a couple of beetroots really really thinly and pickled them in red wine vinegar for some much needed acidity. As for the rest of it, I simply cut it up into wedges and roasted in a hot oven until knife tender.

The cream is a super simple affair that only requires a bit of blending and chilling. And maple walnuts – which I made for another beetroot salad I love – also come together in seconds. Then all you need to do is to assemble all the elements on a pretty platter and serve.

MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS

BEETS: This dish is all about beetroots and horseradish so I used fresh organic beetroots for this recipe. I quick-pickled one for much needed sharpness and roasted the others. If you don’t want to be pickling beets yourself (although it’s dead easy and quick), you can simply buy ready pickled ones and slice them thinly or dice them small, but I recommend going to the effort.

HORSERADISH: Horseradish is the second key ingredient in this recipe. I used preserved horseradish that comes in a jar instead of a fresh root as the latter is not easily available where I live. I used this Polish horseradish brand that I came across in my local Sainsbury’s. I like it as it’s strong and accidentally vegan while many UK supermarket brands contain cream, milk or eggs. If you cannot find horseradish, try adding some wasabi powder – which you’ll find in all big supermarkets – instead.

RED WINE VINEGAR: Red wine vinegar is the acid I used to quickly pickle my beetroots. It’s a cheap and easily available cooking staple so you should have no issues finding it.

CASHEWS: I used raw cashews as a base for this creamy sauce. Cashews are fatty and neutral in flavour so they never take over the dish. If you cannot have cashews, use sunflower seeds (they need to be soaked too) or tofu, but tofu does bring its own flavour so the results may be less delicious.

GARLIC: I wanted just a touch of garlic in this horseradish cream so I used a small clove. Alternatively, use a smidge of garlic powder – a quarter of a teaspoon to begin with.

LEMON: A dash of lemon gives my horseradish cream a hint of acidity that balances the sweetness of beets nicely. Since I am using pickled beetroots as well, I held back when it comes to lemon a little and I recommend not going overboard.

VEGAN BUTTER: I wanted this horseradish cream to be pipeable as well as silky smooth so I added a bit of melted vegan butter to it (Danish brand Naturli is my favourite) to stiffen it. You can skip that addition if you don’t fancy it, but the texture will be a little runnier. You could also set it with agar (vegan gelatine), but the reason I decided against it is that it’s a bit fussy. I have not tried this recipe with agar but based on a similar recipe I did in the past I would use about 1.5 tsp of agar powder.

WALNUTS: Finally, every good recipe needs a bit of crunch and that’s what walnuts provide, aside from their delicious (and very beet compatible) flavour, of course. I went a bit further and caramelised them in a bit of maple syrup and vegan butter like in this recipe but you don’t have to do that. Toasted walnuts will be just as delicious.

HOW TO MAKE IT?

1) MAKE HORSERADISH CREAM

In a small blender or smoothie maker, combine drained cashews, lemon juice, garlic, horseradish, melted butter, salt and pepper and a quarter cup (60 ml) of liquid. I used soy milk but water is just as good. Blend until smooth. Try not to add anymore moisture as it will slacken the mixture. Once blended refrigerate to firm up. If you are in a rush, place the bowl with the cream in your freezer for 40 minutes or so.

2) QUICK PICKLE BEETS

Slice a couple of beets into paper thin slices using a sharp mandoline. If you don’t own one, don’t worry. Instead of slicing simply dice them up into tiny dice. Prepare a pickling liquid by combining red wine vinegar, sugar (or maple syrup) and salt in a small pot. Bring the mixture to a simmer then and beets and allow them to simmer until tender (about 3-4 minutes for thin slices).

3) ROAST BEETS

Cut the rest of the beets into wedges, toss them in some olive oil, season lightly and roast in a hot oven until knife tender.

4) OPTIONALLY, CANDY WALNUTS

At this point, you could prepare maple walnuts as these only take a few minutes, otherwise use toasted walnuts. To make maple walnuts, combine 2 tbsp of maple syrup and a dab of vegan butter in a small frying pan. Allow the two to melt into each other and bubble gently, add raw (or toasted) walnuts and stir well to coat, sprinkle with a tiny bit of of salt. Switch the heat off and all the walnuts to cool down.

5) COMBINE AND SERVE

Spread about a third of horseradish cream artistically on a large platter, top with roasted beetroots, slices of quick-pickled beetroot and walnuts. Pipe the rest of the cream all around the platter, decorate with fresh dill, baby beet leaves and a freshly ground pepper.