BBQ Beetroots & Roast Tomato Salad

Part of Peruvian Sky's entry in Iron Chef SA 028:Balsamic Battle

A heavy focus on the challenge ingredients - it features in both the beetroot marinade and the salad dressing. The balsamic roasted cherry tomatoes really stole the show here.

Ingredients:

   * 4 Medium Beetroots

The Marinade:

   * Basil
   * Thyme
   * Marjoram
   * Sage
   * Rosemary
   * Garlic
   * Balsamic Vinegar

The Salad

   * 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
   * 1 red onion
   * Mixed salad leaves
   * Balsamic vinegar
   * Olive oil

Instructions

Remove the beetroot stalks leaving only a couple of centimeters hanging out. Rinse in cold water

To make the marinade combine 1 teaspoon of each herb roughly chopped and 1 crushed of garlic to 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar.

Cut the beets into thick slices and lay flat in a shallow dish. Cover in the marinade and allow the two time to get acquainted. It's best to allow at least an hour for this process. Beets are notoriously shy - it's why they blush so easily.

Cover the beets in a couple of layers of foil and place this on a hot plate for 25mins. Make sure it's sealed up tight with all the excess marinade added so it doesn't dry out.

To finish, remove from the foil and BBQ over a high heat for a couple of mins. If you could get a nice BBQ sear that'd be ace, however we unfortunately didn't have satisfactory equipment for such trickery. Just before you remove from the heat collect all the herbs used for the marinade and roughly tear a few of them directly onto the beets.

In a baking tray cover the tomatoes in equal quantities of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Season well and throw in some torn up basil leaves for good measure. Roast for about 15-20mins.

In a large bowl combine salad leaves, finely sliced red onion and the roasted tomatoes. Dress with olive oil, a little more balsamic and any juices left in the oven tray. Squash up a couple of the tomatoes when you mix it all together to make the dressing extra special.