Beetroot, goats cheese, pine nut and rocket salad

Ingredients

• 6 medium-sized beetroot
• 75g pine nuts
• 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
• Half a clove of garlic, minced
• A good pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper  
• 250g goats' cheese, cut into bite-size pieces
• 60g rocket leaves

Directions

1. You can cook the beetroot ahead of time, simply wrap in tinfoil, place on an oven tray and bake for about an hour at 190C/Gas Mark 5 or until you can insert a fork smoothly. Remove from oven, allow to cool, then peel with knife and slice into quarters.
2. On a large dry frying pan, over a medium heat, toast pine nuts, until golden brown, make sure to keep an eye on them as they can burn quite quickly.
3. In a large bowl whisk together Dijon mustard, oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper and set aside.
4. When ready to serve the salad, arrange beetroot quarters and goats cheese pieces on each plate. Toss the rocket leaves in the dressing and place a little on each plate. Finally, scatter each plate with the toasted pine nuts and serve straight away.

Recipe by Donal Skehan