Roasted beets and creamy avocado tower

A Sit Smart Diet appetizer packed with vitamins and minerals such as vitamin A, C, folic acid, manganese, calcium, iron, sodium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, chromium and magnesium.

This is such an easy, entertaining recipe for dinner parties that looks impressive but is really easy to make. If you grill the beets in advance, this fancy dish can be made in an instant, while your guests are already sitting at the kitchen table.

4-6 servings

Ingredients
  • 6 raw medium sized beets
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • Himalayan salt
  • Dried or fresh thyme
  • 2 avocado’s, pitted and peeled
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed
  • 1 small red onion
  • 1 lime
  • 2 tbsp pine nuts
  • Optional: 2 tbsp vegan ceamcheese (it’s in most countries very easy to order products like these online, and almost every grocery store will have vegan products like these nowadays)
  • Optional: watercress or ruccola for garnishing
  • Extra needed: aluminum foil and piping bag

Preparation

Heat the oven to 400°F.

Prepare the beets

If the beets still have their leafy tops, cut off the tops close to the tops of the beet, leaving yourself enough to grip. Save the beet greens for another purpose. Scrub the beets thoroughly, then wrap them loosely in aluminum foil. Sprinkle them with a pinch of himalayan salt and dried or fresh thyme. No need to dry the beets before wrapping. Small beets can be wrapped together, but it’s easiest to roast large beets individually.

Roast the beets

 Place the wrapped beets on a rimmed baking sheet to catch drips in case the beet juices leak. Roast for 50 to 60 minutes. Check the beets every 20 minutes or so. If they are starting to look dry or are scorching on the bottoms, dribble a tablespoon of water over the beets before re-wrapping. Beets are done when a fork or skewer slides easily to the center of the beet. Small beets will cook more quickly than large beets.

Peel the beets

Set the beets aside until cool enough to handle. Hold one of the beets in a paper towel and use the edges of the paper to rub the skin away. The skin should peel away easily; if it doesn’t, the beets likely need to cook for a little longer. Peel the remaining beets, and cut them into slice (see photo).

Make the creamy quacamole

Now make a creamy quacamole in the food processor (or with the hand blender), with 2 avocado’s s, 1 red pepper, 1 small red onion, juice of 1 lime, 1 garlic clove, pepper & salt to taste and 2 tbsp of vegan cream cheese, for instance: Violife Creamy with herbs, or Daiya cream cheeze Chive & Onion

Put the quacamole in a piping bag. Now make a nice pie of slices of beet, alternated with a layer of creamy quacamole. Finally toast a handful of pine nuts and sprinkle over the beet towers. Garnish possibly with some fresh watercress leaves or ruccola.

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