Ask a Chef reveals the secrets of those superb dishes you ate in cafes and restaurants and wanted to try yourself.
Photo: Gregor Richardson
Gaslight's Rouge Salad
Ingredients
Preserved lemons (can buy at specialty section in supermarkets)
5 lemons
2 cups rock salt
2 bay leaves
Feta
400g feta
oil to cover (your preference)
3 Tbsp cumin seeds
⅛ cup lemon juice
2 star anise
4 cloves of confit garlic (can buy in specialty stores)
2 Tbsp oregano
Candy walnuts
100g walnuts
50g brown sugar
4 Tbsp honey
Roast beetroot/crisps
3-4 large beetroot
1 Tbsp dried thyme or a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme oil
salt and pepper to taste
Dressing
2 parts oil
1 part balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Salad
A few handfuls of mesclun salad mix
2 sliced pears
crumbly feta to garnish
Method
Slice lemons and put them in a bowl with the rock salt.
Squash together and place in an airtight jar with the bay leaves. Cover with rock salt. Add more if required.
After a week, discard the pulp, take the rind and slice for the salad.
Feta
Dice feta. Put all the ingredients in an airtight container.
Refrigerate overnight or for a couple of days for the ingredients to infuse.
Candy walnuts
Roast the walnuts until golden brown. Spread evenly on a baking tray.
Put sugar and honey in a pot and cook until sugar has dissolved and the mixture is liquid.
Pour liquid over the walnuts and leave on a baking tray to cool.
Roast beetroot/crisps
Boil the beetroot whole until soft to touch. Cool.
Peel skin off beetroot. Keep one whole beetroot aside and cut the rest into cubes.
Put the cubed beetroot in a roasting dish with the thyme, oil and salt and pepper. Roast until tender.
Beetroot crisps: Peel the whole beetroot into slivers and place on baking tray. Spray with cooking oil. Bake until crispy.
Dressing
Mix all the ingredients together.
Salad
Mix the mesclun, pear, roast beetroot, walnuts, feta, preserved lemons and dressing together.
Place beetroot crisps on top and add crumbled feta.
Recipe requested by Tracey Brockie, of Dunedin.
Recipe provided by Gaslight, Dunedin.
If you have enjoyed a dish in an Otago cafe or restaurant and would like the recipe, write to Ask a Chef, Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, Dunedin, fax 474-7422, or email odt.features@odt.co.nz, including your name, address and a daytime telephone number, and we will request it.
