Cold ox tongue with baby beets

Serves 4

Try to buy fresh baby beetroot for this dish (you may need to pre-order them from your greengrocer). Otherwise, use normal beetroot and cut them into quarters. You can cook and prepare the beetroot the day before in order that they are cold and ready to serve.

1 piece salted ox tongue weighing about 800g-1kg
1 onion, peeled and halved
2 carrots, peeled and trimmed
10 black peppercorns
1 bayleaf
Vegetable oil for roasting
1kg baby beetroot
250ml balsamic vinegar
30g caster sugar
5g thyme, chopped
60ml extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Red chard, red orache, mustard leaves or small beetroot leaves

Put the ox tongue into a large saucepan with the onion, carrots, peppercorns and bay leaf. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 2-2 hours. Leave to cool in the liquid. While still warm, peel the skin away using your fingers and return the tongues to the cooking liquid.

Cook the beetroot in their skins in salted water for 50 minutes to an hour, depending on their size, testing them with the point of a sharp knife. Once cooked, cool them down a little and peel them by rubbing the skins off with a pair of rubber gloves. If using large beetroot, cut them into four. Bring the balsamic vinegar to the boil with the thyme and sugar, cool down, then pour over the beetroot and leave to cool.

To serve, cut the tongue thinly with a sharp knife, arrange on a plate and serve the beetroot in the centre of the plate with the leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and grind some black pepper over the meats.