Ingredients
4 beets, washed but leave the skin on
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more for the vinaigrette
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorn
1 orange, zested with a peeler so the zest pieces are large, (remove as much white from the inside as possible)
1 pomegranate, cleaned
1/2 cup roasted hazelnuts
1 1/2 tsp honey
1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 handful fresh mint
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a roasting pan place the beets, vinegar, water, salt, black peppercorn and orange zest. Cover with tin foil and let roast for 40 minutes. Check every 20 minutes. When a knife slides through easily they are ready. There will be leftover juice on the bottom of the tray. That's great! Keep that for the vinaigrette.
Let the beets cool and in the meantime make the vinaigrette. Take the leftover beet juice and put it into a bowl. Add in the honey and mustard. Whisk and drizzle in the olive oil slowly until the vinaigrette comes together. If it needs to be thicker add more olive oil. Season with salt and cracked black pepper and keep on the side until you use it.
Remove the skin from the beets and cut into chunks. Toss with some of the vinaigrette and place into a pretty bowl, top with the pomegranate seeds and drizzle with a little more dressing. Top with the hazelnuts, pomegranates and fresh mint to serve.