icons | salt baked beetroot. goat cheese. hazelnut.

A new series. Delving into the dishes that make SMOKESTAK.  

Beginning with a seasonal return – salt baked beetroot. Goat cheese. Hazelnut.  

 
A SMOKESTAK ICON.  

baked in salt to draw out the moisture. sharpening the sweetness and earthiness of the root. to lift the dish, a sharp beetroot reduction and cabernet sauvignon vinegar dressing, blow torched goat cheese to add warmth and smokiness and a handful of toasted hazelnuts for some crunch and bite. 

the idea.

The dish was born in our early development days, and we have been victim to its success since. Because of the sharpness and high acidity of the dish, it works especially well with the richness of our smoked meats. 

OUR METHOD. 

Place the beets - skin-on - on a baking tin liberally spread with sea salt so the entire tin is fully covered, and so the beets rest on the salt during the cook. 

Bake at 180C for around 2 - 2.5 hours until the beetroots are tender to the touch. Probe with a skewer and it should pierce through easily. 

Remove from the salt. Peel the skins. Set aside. 

Separately, we take pressed beetroot juice and reduce by ten times, really strengthening the flavour. Cabernet sauvignon vinegar is whisked in to form a dressing. 

To plate the dish, the beets are broken apart by hand warm and dressed with the vinaigrette. We then take 3 or 4 thumb sized pieces of room temperature goat cheese, press in our hand so they are quite thin before laying over beets and blow-torching them until they reach a golden colour. A generous handful of hazelnuts and gold olive oil to finish.