Chef's Recipes

Curtis Stone's carrot-beetroot salad

Curtis Stone recipe for carrot-beetroot salad from Maude restaurant in Los Angeles.

By Curtis Stone
  • 1 hr preparation
  • 9 hrs cooking plus freezing, pickling, cooling
  • Serves 8
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Carrot-beetroot salad
"At Maude, we put locally sourced, seasonal ingredients under a microscope and experiment to see how many ways we can make something taste delicious," says Stone. "We serve it raw, dehydrate it, grind it, purée it, turn it into a sorbet. In this salad, you'll enjoy pickled beetroot and blood orange chips, plus chewy cooked carrots and fresh carrots that are shaved paper-thin. The salad tastes as bold and vibrant as it looks." Start this recipe a day ahead to pickle the beetroot and make the orange chips.

Ingredients

  • 3 baby carrots, trimmed, peeled and thinly shaved lengthways on a mandolin
  • ½ cup (loosely packed) lamb's lettuce
  • 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • To serve: blood orange oil (optional; see note)
Blood orange chips
  • 2 blood oranges
  • 55 gm (¼ cup) caster sugar
Pickled beetroot
  • 1 beetroot, scrubbed
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 125 ml (½ cup) Champagne vinegar
  • 100 gm caster sugar
  • 5 thyme sprigs
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 piece thinly peeled lemon rind
Roast carrots
  • 1.5 litres (6 cups) fresh carrot juice
  • 2 thyme sprigs
  • 1 tarragon sprig
  • 400 gm (about 24) baby heirloom carrots, scrubbed and trimmed
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
Charred baby leeks
  • 8 baby leeks, green tops trimmed
  • To spray: olive oil spray
Crimson turnip cream
  • 270 gm (about 8) baby crimson turnips (see note), trimmed and sliced into 2mm-thick discs
  • 60 ml (¼ cup) thickened cream
  • 30 gm butter, coarsely chopped
  • 1 tsp lemon juice, or to taste

Method

Main
  • 1
    For blood orange chips, slice tops off oranges and freeze until firm, but not frozen solid (2-2¼ hours). Meanwhile, bring sugar and 60ml water to the simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking to dissolve sugar, then cool to room temperature. Preheat oven to 75C and line an oven tray with baking paper. Thinly slice oranges on a mandolin, place on tray, brush both sides with sugar syrup and dry in oven until crisp (4½-5 hours; see note). Store in an airtight container until required. Blood orange crisps can be made up to 2 days ahead.
  • 2
    For pickled beetroot, preheat oven to 200C.Place beetroot in the centre of a 25cm-square piece of foil, drizzle with oil, season to taste and wrap tightly to enclose. Roast until just tender when pierced with a skewer (45-50 minutes), cool slightly, then peel, finely dice and transfer to a non-reactive container. Meanwhile, stir remaining ingredients and 120ml water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, cool to room temperature, then pour over beetroot, cover and refrigerate to pickle (at least 6 hours or overnight).
  • 3
    For roast carrots, preheat oven to 75C and line an oven tray with baking paper. Bring carrot juice and herbs to the simmer in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add carrots and simmer until just tender (5-6 minutes). Drain, toss with olive oil in a bowl, season to taste, then spread on prepared tray and roast until chewy and slightly shrunken (2½-3 hours). Keep warm.
  • 4
    Meanwhile, for charred leeks, blanch leeks until tender (2-3 minutes), drain and refresh, then drain well and pat dry with paper towels. Line a cast-iron frying pan with foil and spray with olive oil spray. Place leeks on foil, then cook over high heat, turning leeks occasionally, until well charred all over (7-8 minutes). Halve leeks lengthways and keep warm.
  • 5
    For crimson turnip cream, bring turnips, cream, butter, 60ml water and ½ tsp salt to the boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium and simmer until turnips are tender (8-10 minutes). Strain, reserving liquid, then purée turnips in a blender with lemon juice and 1 tbsp reserved liquid. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and lemon juice, cool then transfer to a squeeze bottle.
  • 6
    Dress shaved carrot and lamb's lettuce with extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice, and season to taste with salt. Dot crimson turnip cream and orange oil on plates, divide roast carrot and charred leek among plates, garnish with lamb's lettuce and shaved carrot, and orange chips, and serve.

Notes

Note Blood orange oil is available from select health-food shops. The blood orange chips can also be made using a dehydrator. If baby crimson turnips are unavailable, substitute baby turnips.
Drink Suggestion: 2012 Skouras, Moscofilero, Peloponnese, Greece. Drink suggestion by Ben Aviram