Beetroot, Pear and Celery Heart Salad

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C

Trim the stalks from the beetroot. Wash, dry and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, sea salt and pepper and cover with foil. Bake for 1 and1/2 hour or until tender (they do take a long time to cook). Remove foil, peel as soon as you can handle them and drizzle Vino Cotto over the beets, set aside to rest and cool.
To make the Red Wine Vinegar dressing, spoon the mustard into a bowl, add the vinegar and mix well, add the Extra Virgin Olive Oil slowly, stirring slowly to emulsify (you can also do this with a stick blender) Add the sea salt, pepper and sugar, stir and adjust the seasoning. (If you ever add too much sugar, you can adjust by adding a little more salt or some more vinegar – let your taste guide you.)

Slice the pears into halves and then into 1/8ths, slicing out the core as you go along. Slice the celery heart diagonally, incorporating as many leaves as possible. Squeeze juice of half a lemon to stop discolouration. Mix the celery heart with the sliced pear and a few tablespoons of Red Wine Vinegar dressing.
Cut the beets into half and place at the bottom of a serving platter, top with the pear and celery heart and leaves and other herbs or lettuces and mix, sprinkle with a little more sea salt and black pepper and serve.