Our garden has been producing the most glorious beetroot this year, lots of beetroot.

This season the beetroot has been the best I have grown.  They have been big, beautifully big and perfect.  There was nothing wrong with them in previous years but this season they have been exceptional. The only thing I did differently this season that I can attribute to this is that I watered them – often. They were planted in a good loose soil and no pests (in my experience) seem to bother them. The winter just past was so dry with barely any rain where we live. The further we got into winter with no rain – I watered. The beetroot grew and grew!

I have made a batch of my famous Beetroot Relish, some Balsamic Beetroot Chips, and I have handed many over the fence to my neighbor to enjoy. She mentioned that they love to eat it raw in salads. I have been pushing quite a few over the fence as there is nothing better than having someone really appreciate your home grown produce.

After making our favorites, I have now moved onto creating some new salads. I don’t consider our current harvests as a glut in the zucchini sense of a glut, there is no overwhelm involved, I have planted more seeds that are almost ready to go into the garden. That is not something I would consider doing in the midst of full zucchini production!

For now, this recipe is one of the things I have made with our fresh garden harvests or beetroot.

In addition to our home grown beetroot, I have added some of this seasons beautiful asparagus that is abundant at the moment. I created this salad to serve as a side dish but it would also be suitable as a main because the chickpeas make it a sustaining, wholesome meal on it’s own.  A fresh seasonal vegetarian meal straight from the garden. The beetroot, spinach, lemon mint were harvested from my vegetable garden a few minutes before beginning to make it.

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Spring Chickpea and Beetroot Salad

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

25 mins

Total Time

35 mins

 

A glorious productive harvest of beetroot combined with fresh seasonal asparagus and wholesome chickpeas makes a fabulous spring salad, or vegetarian meal

Course: Salad

Servings: 2 -3

Author: Kyrstie Barcak - A Fresh Legacy

Ingredients

• 400 gram chickpeas rinsed
• 1 spoon honey to drizzle
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1-2 medium beetroot boiled until cooked
• 1 bunch fresh asparagus
• leaves fresh spinach
• leaves fresh mint
• haloumi grated
• fresh lemon to serve
• olive oil

Instructions

1. Set the oven to 160 degrees
2. Set a saucepan of water to boil
3. Add the chickpeas to a baking pan and add a drizzle of honey, coconut oil and balsamic vinegar
4. Bake for 20 min - stir once or twice to ensure they are well coated and evenly browned
5. Add the beetroot to the boiling water and cook for 15 min or until ready - test with a skewer. If you can push the skewer through without resistance it is cooked.
6. Wrap the asparagus in foil, drizzle with olive oil and squeeze of lemon, put into the oven beside the chickpeas to cook for 10 min or until tender
7. Remove the beetroot from the water and when cooled, cut into quarters or the desired size
8. Add the fresh spinach leaves to a serving plate and then add the cooked chickpeas, beetroot and the asparagus.
9. Serve with the fresh mint leaves and add a squeeze of fresh lemon, and grated haloumi
10. This salad could be served while the vegetables are warm or once they have cooled

Are you growing beetroot in your vegetable garden? What are you making with yours? 

Do you want to grow beetroot? I published some growing notes and information here.