Lukewarm beetroot carpaccio with lamb's lettuce and goat's cheese

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g beetroot, pre-cooked, approximately the same size
• 200 g lamb’s lettuce
• 200 g goat’s cheese (1 piece per person, approx. 50 g each)
• 1 small shallot(s), diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp capers, chopped
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard, grainy, not sweet mustard
• ½ pomegranate, seeds
• 6 walnuts
• some marjoram, dried or fresh
• e.g. olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar, dark
• Sea salt, coarse
• Sea salt, fine
• pepper, black, black

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 10 minutes

festive, sophisticated starter

Preheat the oven to 200°C (top/bottom heat). Line a piece of aluminum foil and place the beets on it. The pre-cooked beets are usually wrapped in their own juice; reserve about 1-2 tablespoons of this in a bowl for the salad dressing. Season the beets with a little coarse sea salt, pepper, and marjoram. Peel and halve the garlic cloves and add them to the beets. Then drizzle with a generous amount of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (approximately a 1:1 ratio). Seal the aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, trim, wash, and drain the lamb’s lettuce. In the bowl containing the beetroot juice, mix together a dressing from olive oil, balsamic vinegar (approximately a 1:1 ratio), 1 teaspoon of mustard, capers, shallot, salt (fine), and pepper. Halve the pomegranate and carefully remove the seeds in a bowl. Add the juice from the pomegranate seeds that accrued when removing the beets to the dressing. Roughly chop the walnuts and set aside. Warm the plates in the oven or microwave shortly before the end of the cooking time. Remove the beets from the oven and slice them as thinly as possible on a board. Be careful not to burn your fingers! Arrange these slices on the plates. Arrange the lamb’s lettuce in the center of each plate and drizzle with the dressing. Drizzle the warm juice from the aluminum foil over the beets. Distribute a few pomegranate seeds and chopped walnuts among the plates and finally, place the goat’s cheese in the center of the lamb’s lettuce. Serve with a fresh piece of baguette, if desired. This also makes a nice, light main course for two people.