We’ve had quite a nice burst of sun in London over the past few days, which got me thinking about salads. But seeing as we’re not quite out of the woods temperature wise yet, this is greenery with guts.

The beetroot is warm and sweet with a bit of a spicy kick, and goes really well with the tangy, creamy goats cheese. If you wanted to, you could also throw in a few crushed walnuts, but I didn’t have any to hand, so I didn’t.

Y’all ready?

Ingredients (serves 2)

500g beetroot

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon chilli flakes

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

1 teaspoon, fresh oregano, chopped

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

100 g mild, soft goats cheese

120g mixed salad leaves – watercress / rocket / spinach

Method

So, first up, get your oven on to 180c and pop on your kettle. Now remove the stalks, and peel your beets. You might want to wear a pair of rubber gloves unless you want purple stained hands.

When you’re done, pop them in a pan and pour over the water from the kettle and put on the heat to par boil for around 10-15 minutes. After this time, drain away the ruby coloured water, and cut each beet into around 8 segments.

Now place all the segments in a roasting dish, and drizzle the honey and a good glug of olive oil over the top. Give them a good mix, ensuring that each one gets a good coating. Then scatter over the chilli flakes, thyme, orgegano and season with salt a pepper. Mix again so all the herbs and spices stick to the beets, and then pop in the oven to roast for around 30 minutes.

And that’s all the hard work done. Once the beets are roasted, take them out of the oven and let them cool down a bit. When they are cooler, but still warm, assemble your salad. Place the leaves on a plate, scatter over some of the beet segments, and then crumble the goats cheese over the top.

Drizzle with your favourite salad dressing (my usual being olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard and black pepper), gently toss, and serve with some good bread.

Good spring eating.

Ingredients

Leftover roast chicken

Good quality French baguette

Mayo

Dijon mustard

Black pepper

Olive oil

1/2 clove garlic

Rocket

Method

First up, stick a griddle pan on your hob and get it nice and hot. Next mix together equal quantities of mayo and dijon mustard in a small bowl, and then grind a bunch of black pepper into the mix to taste (the quantity of ‘dijonaise’ you make depends on the number of sarnies you are making).

Now, cut a decent length of baguette, and slice it down the middle. I like to scoop out some of the dough from the inside the top slice, this helps make room for the filling. Drizzle some olive oil on the inside of the baguette slices, rub it in, and then place on the griddle, dough side down.

Once the bread has got nice golden brown lines on it from the bars of the griddle, remove and then rub with the cut garlic clove, before spreading liberally with the mayo / mustard mix. Place a generous quantity of roast chicken and a big handful of rocket on the bottom slice and then slap on the top and press down.

Cut in half, et mangé.