my favourite, earthy root recipe

This popped up in Shop Till You Drop this month, prompting an urge to share a recipe with you (below):

As it happens, I cooked a meal last night using ALMOST all the ingredients above. In rough terms, this is it:

• 2 x medium beetroots
• brown lentils (I cook my own and freeze them in batches, but you can use a tin of the things if you like)
• handful of chopped parsley and/or mint
• cup or so of frozen baby peas, cooked
• spinach leaves or kale (chopped finely and blanched)
• 1 x preserved lemon, chopped up
• a handful of walnuts, chopped
• goats cheese feta

So, tie on a pretty apron. And take a deep breath. And remind yourself you don’t need to rush. Next whack the beetroots (unpeeled, no oil…Maggie Beer shared this on radio recently) onto a baking tray in the oven on 180 or so for about 15 minutes until they’re just cooked. When they’re done the skin will just peel off (personally, I don’t peel them… I like the skin). Then cut the little suckers into segments (1/8ths)
In a salad bowl place the lentils and vegetables. Put the beetroots on top. Mix.
Combine the preserved lemon and cheese (with a little olive oil) and crumble on top. Toast the walnuts lightly in a pan and sprinkle.

Serve alone or with fish or lamb or whatever. And feel the rooty, earthy, nourishing love…