Roast pork with spanish spiced beetroot salad

PREP TIME

15 minutes

COOK TIME

60 minutes

SERVES

4 people

Ingredients

10 whole baby beetroots with stems
1 brown onion, with skin on
1 whole garlic bulb with skin on
1 pork fillet or rib roast
1 tbsp The Spice People’s Vadouvan French Curry spice blend
1 tsp The Spice People’s Fennel Seeds Whole – dry roasted for 2 minutes
1 tbsp The Spice People’s Smoked Paprika
1 tbsp The Spice People’s Smoked Garlic Flakes
1 tsp The Spice People’s Macrobiotic Sea Salt
1/2 bunch fresh spinach leaves
2-3 green scallions or shallots
juice of 1/2 lemon
10 fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
2 tsp white wine vinegar

The love this recipe

Roast pork with Spanish spiced beetroot salad has got to be one of my favorite dishes. This little gem was inspired by the head of Movida Frank Camorra. His Movida restaurants specialise in Spanish tapas menus.

The beautiful beetroot salad he made and served with calamari was amazing. I had some baby beetroots in the fridge and a pork fillet so this recipe was inspired by him and his passion for authentic simple rustic food. I love that this beetroot salad could go with many different types of meat, not just pork or calamari, and the smoked paprika and garlic give it a rich silky taste that is irresistible.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Cut the stems off the beetroots, put these aside and trim the little beetroot tail and wrap each beet into foil and place on the baking tray. Place the unpeeled brown onion and a whole head of garlic in with the beetroot and roast for 45-60 min until easily pierced with a knife. Set aside to cool.
To make the beetroot salad, carefully skin the baby beetroots, using gloves is a simple clean way to rub off the beetroot skin, roughly chop the beetroot into 2 cm pieces and place it in a bowl. In a separate bowl add the white wine vinegar freshly ground fennel, about half the lemon juice, mint leaves and Gently squeeze the garlic out of the whole roast clove and do the same with the onion. It should be soft and break down easily. Mix these ingredients together to form a smooth paste. Add the beetroot and coat well.
Don’t waste the beetroot stems they make a fantastic relish that works with the beetroot salad. To prepare the beetroot stems wash to remove any dirt and chop finely stems and leaves. Heat a saucepan and add 2tbsp of olive oil, the dry roasted garlic flakes, salt, and smoked sweet paprika, careful not to burn. Add the beetroot stems and leaves, shallots, and spinach and sauté for 10 min till the stems are soft but still firm.
Take the pork fillet or rib roast and rub the vadouvan spice mix all over the meat, let rest for 15 min, and then either place in the oven in a separate baking tray for 25 min for the rib roast or 15 min for the pork fillet. Alternatively, you can heat a saucepan and gently roast the fillet in the pan using medium heat. Remember not to overcook as it will continue to cook while resting.