Ingredients:

FOR THE BEETS:

• olive oil
• two large beets
• salt

FOR THE RED PEPPER SAUCE:

• 3 red bell peppers
• 300ml apple cider vinegar
• 30g olive oil
• sugar to taste
• salt to taste

FOR THE YELLOW PEPPER SAUCE:

• 3 yellow bell peppers
• 300ml apple cider vinegar
• 30g olive oil
• sugar to taste
• salt to taste

FOR THE WHITE CHOCOLATE SAUCE:

• 115g white chocolate
• 60g heavy cream (35% fat)
• 10g honey

FOR THE BALSAMIC GLAZE:

• 100ml balsamic vinegar
• sugar to taste

Tools:

• Pan
• Small pot
• Heatproof spatula
• Blender
• Fine sieve
• Oven
• Tin foil
• Heatproof bowl
• Round cookie cutter with a slightly smaller diameter than the beets
• Cleaning film

Execution:

FOR THE BEETS:

• Preheat the oven to 200C.
• Place each beet on a large piece of foil and sprinkle it with salt and olive oil.
• Wrap the foil very tightly and put the beets in the oven.
• Roast for 2 hours.
• When roasted, remove from the oven, unwrap them and let them cool down for 3 minutes.
• Cut the top and bottom of each beet as to create a thick disk.
• Use the cookie cutter to cut out the center of the beet.
• Store in a container until ready to use.

FOR THE RED PEPPER SAUCE:

• Preheat the oven to 200C.
• Place the peppers in the oven and roast them until their skin is very dark and burned (around 30 mins).
• Put the peppers in a bowl and wrap it tightly with cleaning film.
• Let them steam for 10 minutes.
• Remove the cleaning film, rinse the peppers with some cold water and use your hands to remove their skin and seeds.
• Finely chop the peppers and place them in a cold pan.
• Add the vinegar and sugar and cook on medium heat until all the vinegar evaporates.
• Transfer into a blender with olive oil and blend until smooth.
• Adjust the consistency using ice-cold water. The sauce should be thick but still thin enough to pour, like a syrup.
• Pass the sauce through a fine sieve to remove the solids and store in a container.

FOR THE YELLOW PEPPER SAUCE:

• Same as for the red one but with the yellow peppers.

FOR THE WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE:

• Chop the chocolate into small pieces.
• Transfer it into a bowl with the honey.
• In a small pot heat the cream to 90C (just before boiling).
• Add the cream to the chocolate and stir slowly with a spatula until emulsified and shiny.
• Wrap with cleaning film (with the film touching the surface of the ganache) and store until ready to use.

FOR THE BALSAMIC GLAZE:

• Add the balsamic vinegar in a pot over medium heat.
• Reduce to a glaze consistency.
• Adjust the taste with sugar.

Platting:

• Add spoonfuls of the pepper sauces on the perimeter of the plate.
• Using a spoon hit the sauces to make them splatter around.
• Place the beet on the center of the plate.
• Make nice little lines with the ganache and the balsamic glaze.
• (Optional) Add some fleur de sel on top of the beet.

Theory, tips:

• In my opinion this is the best way to cook beets as it removes the dirt-like taste of raw beets and gives them a deep nutty flavor instead.
• To make this recipe vegan omit the heavy cream in the ganache and just use melted white chocolate.

Acknowledgements:

This plate is heavily inspired from Massimo Bottura’s famous “Spin painting” technique.