Roasted Carrots and Beets Dressed with Yoghurt and Dill

Today is a Monday, which sadly means work starts over after such a glorious weekend. As I'm writing this I'm sat, waiting for my train to arrive with a fuzzy head, coffee firmly in hand, wondering where on Earth the last couple of days went!

Yesterday was Sunday however, and in Brixton, that means farmers’ market day. It's a tiny market, a handful of stands at most, but there's enough different or high quality produce there than at the supermarket it's worth a visit. It's also an opportunity to support small local businesses who put a lot of time and soul to produce some wonderful stuff. Plus, it's just down the road from where I live so it would be a crime not to!

View of the market from Brixton Road

So, after a nice lie in and a big pot of coffee (much needed after some drinks the night before), I head out to see what there was to offer. What you can find varies slightly each week so I usually go without a recipe in mind, but let what looks good and what's in season do the choosing. Today there were some lovely fresh carrots and beets and piles of fresh herbs and a recipe sprung to mind of a roasted carrot salad with yogurt and dill I had made a few weeks ago which went down a treat. It would work well with the addition of some beets and some charred spring onion, so that was that. Lunch was sorted.

Some of the produce on offer

On the way home, I stopped by the artisanal bread stall run by the lovely people of the Old Post Office Bakery to grab some bread for lunch- their Brixton rye is stunning- but a loaf of fresh onion bread caught my eye and I thought this would work with my ingredients for lunch. 

Artisanal bread fresh from the Old Post Office Bakery- it smelled so good!

Once home I got to work for lunch. The nice thing with this recipe is that there not much work required yet looks like you've been slaving away for hours. I set the oven to 200C and scrubbed my carrots and beets. I tend to leave the skin on my carrots and beets- they crisp up and get gnarly when roasted on a high heat- just make sure to scrub away all the mud and grit thoroughly before roasting if you do so. There's crunch and then there's crunch...nobody wants the bad kind! They should roast for 40 minutes or so, checking at this point that a sharp knife passes through to the centre easily (if not roast for another 10 minutes).

All ready to go

While they're in the oven, you can make a quick dressing of Greek yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, chopped fresh dill and plenty of cracked black pepper. Rich and creamy but cut with the lemon and dill, it makes a wonderful accompaniment to the roast vegetables and it works particular wonders with carrots and beets. You can find dill pretty easily in supermarkets nowadays and I've recently loved using it in recipes, especially in Mediterranean cuisine. When the veg is close to coming out of the oven heat up some olive oil in a pan and fry some entire spring onions until lightly charred on all sides and soft in the middle.

 The veg looked amazing when it came out, all crispy, twisted and gnarly, exactly what I wanted! I made enough for two and arranged it all on a serving plate, topped with a few sprigs of fresh dill. Served with a few hunks of fresh onion bread smothered in butter and the dressing, and it made for a satisfying lunch.  I'm not a vegetarian or vegan but I have tried to reduce how much meat and animal products I eat and I didn't miss meat in this one- the hearty beets and carrots well and truly made up for it.

Gnarly dude!

Roasted Carrots and Beets Dressed with Yoghurt and Dill

(serves two people)

Ingredients

- 5 medium-sized beets, stalks trimmed
- 5 large carrots, stalks trimmed
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- salt and coarse black pepper
- 150g Greek yogurt
- Juice and zest of half a lemon
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- a handful of chopped dill (plus some entire leaves for dressing)
- 5 spring onions
- 1 loaf of your favorite bread

Method

- Preheat the oven to 200C.
- Trim the greens from the carrots and beets and thoroughly scrub them under the tap.to.remove any mud or grit (be careful not to damage their skin, however). I like to keep the long curly root ends of the beets when roasted they crisp up and give them a rustic gnarled appearance.
- Prepare a baking tin with parchment paper, arrange the carrots and beets in the tin with some space between them and drizzle with a good amount of olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.
- These should roast for 40 minutes or until a sharp knife passes easily to their centers. If not, roast for another 10 minutes.
- Whilst roasting add the Greek yogurt to a bowl, zest and juice half a lemon and add this to the yogurt with the olive oil. Roughly chip a handful of fresh dill and stir this through the dressing. Finish with a pinch of black pepper and salt to taste. Set aside.
- Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and fry the spring onions until lightly browned on all sides and soft in the center. Set aside for later.
- Remove the carrots and beets from the oven and set aside to cool a little. Arrange the spring onions on to a serving dish followed by the beets and carrots. Arrange some whole dill stems to decorate.
- Serve with a good dollop of the dressing and some thick slices of fresh bread and butter.