Around the world in 80 dishes No. 43: Pan-Roasted Beetroot, Soft Goat's Cheese, Mint and Broad Bean Salad

Ingredients to serve 4 or 2 as a light dinner

1 tablespoon olive oil
8 small ready-cooked beetroots, cut into quarters
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
A pinch of sugar
100g broad beans or soya beans (fresh if in season or frozen)
A bunch of mint, leaves only, finely shredded
75g toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
200g soft goat's cheese
A small handful of basil leaves

For the dressing

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon runny honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Pre-heat a frying pan with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Put the beetroot into the pan and season with salt. Cook on a high heat for 6 minutes until the beetroot is charred on the edges, then add the balsamic vinegar, the thyme leaves and a pinch of sugar. Turn down the heat and allow the beetroot to colour some more for a further 3–5 minutes.

Remove the beets from the pan, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and add the ingredients for the dressing to the pan juices. Mix well and season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

If the broad beans are frozen, put them in a heatproof bowl, pour a kettle of boiling water over them to defrost them and drain. Put the beans back into the bowl and lightly crush with the back of a fork, keeping some whole. Then add the shredded mint leaves and hazelnuts and pour over half of the dressing from the frying pan.

Scatter the warm caramelised beets over a big platter, crumble over the soft goat's cheese and scatter over the crushed broad beans and mint mixture. Pour over the remaining warm dressing and decorate with the basil leaves. Serve.

For a quicker alternative to chopping the hazelnuts you can wrap them in clingfilm and crush using a rolling pin or the base of a saucepan.

Taken from 'Home at 7, Dinner at 8' by Sophie Wright (Kyle Cathie, £14.99)