Gordon Ramsay’s beet salad combines raw candy beetroot and cooked beetroots with whipped goat’s cheese, toasted hazelnuts and a sherry vinegar Dijon dressing. It serves 2 and takes about 20 minutes with pre-cooked beets.
This recipe is called Beetroot Salad with Whipped Goat’s Cheese, from Gordon Ramsay: Quick and Delicious. He writes: “The combination of the cooked and raw beetroots provides texture and crunch, and maximises both the sweet and earthy flavours of the beets.” He suggests using a mandolin for paper-thin slices.
The technique that sets this apart: he slices raw candy beetroot thin and drops it into the dressing to lightly pickle while he prepares everything else. Most beet salads use only cooked beets, which are soft and sweet. Adding raw slices pickled in vinaigrette gives you crunch and tartness in the same bowl.
Gordon Ramsay Beet Salad Recipe
Course: SaladsCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy2
15
minutes8
320
kcal20
Raw candy beetroot lightly pickled in dressing alongside quartered cooked beets, whipped goat’s cheese with lemon thyme, and crushed toasted hazelnuts, from Gordon Ramsay: Quick and Delicious. His Great British Pub Food and Fast Food versions take different approaches to the same core pairing of beets and goat’s cheese.
Ingredients
1.5 oz (40g) hazelnuts
1 raw candy beetroot (Chioggia)
4 cooked beetroots, about 9 oz (250g) total
2 oz (60g) shop-bought beetroot salad mixture
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the dressing:
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tbsp beetroot juice (optional)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- For the whipped cheese:
3.5 oz (100g) soft goat’s cheese
1.75 oz (50g) cream cheese
Zest of 1/2 lemon
2 lemon thyme sprigs, leaves picked
1-2 tsp water
Directions
- Toast the hazelnuts: Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C/180°C fan/Gas 4). Spread the hazelnuts over a small baking tray and roast for 5 to 8 minutes until dark golden brown. Remove and leave to cool.
- Make the dressing: Whisk the sherry vinegar, beetroot juice, mustard and olive oil in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pickle the raw beets: Slice the candy beetroot very finely on a mandolin or with a sharp knife. Use a round pastry cutter (about 6.5cm) to stamp circles from each slice. Place the circles in the dressing to pickle lightly while you prepare the rest.
- Whip the cheese: Blend the goat’s cheese, cream cheese, lemon zest, thyme leaves and a pinch of salt and pepper in a food processor until smooth. Add a little water to loosen if needed. Chill until ready to serve.
- Assemble the salad: Quarter the cooked beetroots and put them into a bowl with the salad mixture. Add half the dressing, season and mix well. Divide between two plates. Lift the pickled candy beetroot slices from the dressing and place on top.
- Finish and serve: Dot spoonfuls of whipped goat’s cheese around the salad and spoon over the remaining dressing. Crush the hazelnuts with the flat side of your knife and sprinkle over each plate.
FAQs
Why use raw and cooked beets together?
Cooked beets are soft and sweet. Raw candy beetroot sliced thin and dropped into vinaigrette for a few minutes stays crunchy and picks up tartness from the dressing. Ramsay explains in Quick and Delicious that this combination “maximises both the sweet and earthy flavours of the beets” by giving you two textures from the same vegetable.
Why roast beets on rock salt?
His Great British Pub Food version roasts raw beetroot on a bed of rock salt and thyme sprigs wrapped in foil for 35 to 45 minutes. He writes that “roasting the beetroot on a layer of salt intensifies their earthy flavour.” The salt draws moisture from the surface so the beets concentrate instead of steaming in their own liquid.
How is this different from his website version?
The recipe on gordonramsay.com is a full restaurant dish: beets marinated in champagne vinegar, herbed whipped goat’s cheese, pickled Granny Smith apples, peppered candied pistachios, crispy prosciutto and dressed chicories. It’s six components and over an hour of work. The Quick and Delicious version gives you the same beet-and-goat’s-cheese core in 20 minutes.
Can you simplify this even further?
His Fast Food version is the simplest: ready-cooked baby beets halved, thinly sliced Braeburn apple, crumbled goat’s cheese, toasted hazelnuts and a balsamic hazelnut oil vinaigrette. No whipping, no pickling, no mandolin. Five minutes of assembly.
What can you use instead of candy beetroot?
Ramsay’s website recipe suggests swapping Chioggia beets for watermelon radish if you can’t find them. Both have the same striped pattern and hold up raw. Regular red beetroot works too, but it will stain the dressing and goat’s cheese pink, which the milder candy variety avoids.
I’m Ava Taylor. I’m A Self-taught Home Cook Who Loves Gordon Ramsay Recipes. I Try Every Dish In My Small Apartment Kitchen And Tweak It Until It Works. I Write Clear Steps With Simple Words So Anyone Can Follow. I Share Honest Wins, Mistakes, And Quick Tips To Help You Cook With Confidence.