I know roasted and salad don’t really combine as descriptors logically but this felt like a salad but it was all roasted so roasted goat’s cheese salad it is.

I had a delivery of food and got a lot more than I had bargained for in terms of goats cheese and olive oil.  But never mind – I’m sure I can rise to the challenge and get through it all.  I wouldn’t usually use extra virgin olive oil for this kind of cooking but I got 7 1/2 litres of it instead of 750ml in my delivery (for £6.99 too so I’m not complaining!).

I used some bacon lardons in this but to be honest, I’m not sure they really contributed to the over all experience so I don’t think I would bother next time.  I also had some delicious truffle salami left over from a while back that I felt needed to be used up – that was lovely but it would work without or perhaps with some chorizo.

Ingredients

100g cherry tomatoes

drizzle of olive oil

50ml balsamic vinegar

10 baby carrots, cleaned

2 raw beetroots, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes

drizzle more olive oil

1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs

1 large brown onion, sliced in half then sliced as thinly as possible

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (probably best to use the cheap stuff)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons bacon lardons

2 fat cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 teaspoon lazy chilli

half an orange pepper, thinly sliced

8 leaves of Cavolo nero, chopped into three

1 tablespoon sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds

1 tablespoon pinenuts

1 tablespoon pistachios

4 x 1cm slices goats cheese, rind on

drizzle more olive oil

8 thin slices of salami, torn

Salt and pepper to your taste

Method

• Heat the oven to 180C fan
• Put the cherry tomatoes into a small oven proof dish, drizzle over the olive oil and 50ml balsamic vinegar
• Put the beetroot and carrots onto a baking tray, drizzle with oil and toss to make sure they are evenly coated then sprinkle with the herbs and a little salt and pepper
• Roast in the oven with the cherry tomatoes for about 30 minutes, when the beetroot should be tender 
• Whilst that is roasting, fry the onion in the tablespoon of olive oil on a medium heat – you do want the onions to start to brown but not burn – for about five to ten minutes and then add the balsamic vinegar and continue to cook until the liquid has evaporated, then set aside
• In a large frying pan fry off the bacon lardons (in their own fat) until they begin to go golden brown then add in the garlic, Cavolo Nero and orange pepper and stir fry until the cabbage has wilted, or started to go crispy if you like it that way – set to one side in the pan so it keeps warm
• In another pan, dry fry the seeds and nuts, in separate batches as they will cook at different rates, until they are just beginning to colour and then mix together
• Once everything is cooked, mix all but the onion marmalade together on a large platter, reserving the juices from the dish you baked the tomatoes in
• Arrange the onion marmalade in a “stripe” down the middle of the platter
• In a hot frying pan drizzled with the last of the olive oil, fry the goats cheese for about 2 minutes on each side, when it should be golden and crusty – try not to move it about whilst it is frying
• Arrange the cheese slices over the salad, scatter the salami and drizzle over the reserved juices and serve.