Pickled beetroot, dill, goats cheese and rye

This dish is an easy and healthy Finnish staple of rye bread and lightly-pickled beetroot. For this, you need dense proper rye bread, not a sourdough. With such simple ingredients, it's the quality of each that matters.

Pickled beetroot, dill, goats cheese and rye Credit: Kitti Gould

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• 1 small loaf German-style rye bread, sliced
• 60 g fresh goats cheese
• ½ cup dill sprigs
• extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• ground black pepper, to taste

Lightly pickled beetroot

• 1 bunch beetroots, trimmed and scrubbed
• 3 tsp table salt
• 3 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp seeded mustard
• pinch black peppercorns

Marinating time: overnight

Instructions

1. Place the beetroots in a saucepan of lightly salted boiling water and simmer for 5-10 minutes depending on their size. They should still be fairly hard inside once removed from the heat. Rinse under cold running water and use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin. Using a mandolin, thinly slice the beetroots into 1-2 mm-thick slices.
2. Spread the beetroot on a tray and sprinkle with the salt. Stand for 5 minutes, then rinse, pat dry and place in a zip lock bag or a shallow ceramic dish.
3. Mix the vinegars, mustard and pepper in a jug. Check the taste so it is not too sour but still slightly sweet from the sherry vinegar. Pour over the sliced beetroots and refrigerate with a weight on top to keep the beetroot submerged in the liquid, or even better, in a sous vide bag. If you do use a sous vide bag, go light on the vinegars as well as the spices. These wonder-bags seem to exaggerate everything.
4. To serve, toast the rye bread, then spread with some goats cheese and top with a layer of drained beetroot. Sprinkle with dill, a grind of black pepper and a generous drizzle of olive oil.

Note

• The pickled beetroot will keep in the refrigerator for weeks. 

Photography by Kitti Gould.

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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.

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