Roast veges are one of my favourite quick recipes. I dont always have every vegetable in my own garden but my vegie patch is finally starting to take some shape and yield a few yummy staples. I had the odd sudden bursts of pumpkin and tomatoes, none of which had been planted into the vegie patch. Somehow the earth just decided to give my family these pumpkins and tomatoes. Now the tomatoes, I am very very happy with, not just one, but four varieties of tomatoes including lovely little yellow pear shaped ones have spontaneously sprouted in the vegie patch.
I like baby beetroot, but somehow I always find these really large beetroots in the shops that don’t taste as sweet as the baby ones. So I planted some mini beetroot plants ( I wasn’t brave enough to start from seed, as I might not be able to find or recognise the little plants when they pop up). And today was the day I finally pulled them out of the ground, gave them a quick scrub and used them for my favourite root vegetable salad, topped with lamb and crumbled feta.I photographed this recipe whilst working o the Avalon Food cookbook.
I make this recipe with any root vegetables that are available, favourites are beetroot, purple or orange dutch carrot and parsnip, but you can use any you can find or have growing in your own veggie patch. I add small potatoes, french onions, I throw them in without peeling, the peel comes off easier after cooking and “no tears” .Garlic, a whole bulb goes in. The soft roasted garlic is amazing when squeezed out of its husk. No need to peel the bulb before adding to the roasting tin.
Place all in a roasting tin, sprinkle with cumin seeds and roast until soft. Toss some rocket through and build a pyramid shape onto a plate. Sear the lamb fillets and place on top. Crumble feta cheese generously plus some more roasted cumin seeds. An extra drizzle of your favourite oil, like macadamia oil to glisten everything.
