Baby beetroot salad with orange, avocado and walnuts

By: Louise Fulton Keats
From: Something for Everyone
Serves: 4
Photographer: Ben Dearnley

If fresh beetroot is not an item that ever appears on your grocery list, try giving it a go. I buy a few bunches a week, steam and peel them, and have them ready-to-eat in the fridge to add to salads and sandwiches.

While this may not seem like a kid-friendly dish at first glance, if you take away the leaves, the remaining ingredients – beetroot, avocado, orange, cream cheese, nuts – are all things that many children will happily eat. If yours isn’t one of them, give her a chance. If she’s accustomed to seeing these foods, she’s more likely to eventually try them. Puréed, they also make a perfect baby food.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
2 bunches	baby beetroots, trimmed, leaves reserved
1	orange, cut into segments, juice reserved
1	avocado, peeled, stone removed and sliced
80g	cream cheese, broken into pieces
40g	walnuts, chopped
2 tablespoons	extra virgin olive oil

Method

Steam the baby beetroots for 30 minutes, or until tender. Set aside to cool slightly. Select some of the pretty beetroot leaves, rinse well and set aside.
Using your fingers, slip the skins off the beetroot. Cut into wedges and arrange on serving plates. Top with the orange segments, avocado slices, cream cheese, walnuts and beetroot leaves. Drizzle over the reserved orange juice and olive oil just before serving.

Baby’s serve

For a younger baby, blend the beetroot, avocado, cheese and walnuts until smooth, adding as much liquid as required to achieve the desired consistency. (Avocado doesn’t freeze well so omit the avocado if you intend to freeze the purée.) For an older baby, keep the puréed consistency lumpier or serve as finger food, cut into small pieces.