Roast beetroot bruschetta with roast garlic aioli

Dive into the vibrant winter colours of purple and rich gold with these super baby beets. This makes a lovely light meal or snack.

Roast beetroot bruschetta with roast garlic aioli Credit: Petrina Tinslay

• serves

  4–6

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 3 bunches baby beetroot
• 2 bulbs garlic
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• ½ bunch thyme sprigs
• sea salt and black pepper, to taste
• ½ cup walnuts
• 1 loaf sour dough
• 1 quantity roast garlic aioli

Roast garlic aioli makes 1½ cups

Instructions

Preheat oven to 190˚C (375˚F). Trim the beetroot, leaving a small amount of the stems attached. Halve any large beetroot so that they are all similar sizes. Place the beetroot and garlic in a roasting pan and drizzle over the oil and red wine vinegar. Sprinkle with the half the thyme sprigs and season with salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven for 40–50 minutes or until the beetroot are tender when tested with a skewer. Sprinkle over the walnuts and return to the oven for another 10 minutes, to roast the nuts.

Chargrill or toast slices of sourdough. Serve with the roasted beetroot, garlic and walnuts. Garnish with remaining thyme sprigs and a dollop of roast garlic aioli.

Roast garlic aioli

Turn your extra roast garlic cloves into a delicious roast garlic aioli.

Place 6 cloves of the roasted garlic in to a mortar and pestle. Add ½ teaspoon salt flakes and crush the garlic and salt into a paste. Add in one egg yolk, pound and stir until the egg, garlic and salt are well combined.

Gradually drizzle in 1 cup of light olive oil while continuing to stir with the pestle until all of the oil has been incorporated. Season to taste.

Photography by Petrina Tinslay, styling by David Morgan and art direction by Anne Marie Cummins.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.