Roast Beetroot, Ricotta & Pastrami Roulade

I'm sorry.

Please, accept my apologies, I misjudged you.

All these years I kept you away from me. I declined, in a very polite way. I thought I was doing the right thing. But now I can see that was a big mistake. Sorry, beetroot. Forgive me for ignoring you, bypassing your existence, even (this is embarrassing) encouraging others to do the same. Apologies for being a hater. A massive one.

I hope these lines, that come up from the bottom of my heart, will help to bring us back together.

I promise will walk through the supermarket aisles looking for you, with the excitement of a child on Christmas Day.

I promise  I´ll never ever say you are just a rough radish again. That you taste like dirt.

I´ll pick you up softly, I´ll put you in my trolley, looking at your leaves. I´ll handle you with the care you deserve.

I will post about you on Facebook, to show off how much I love you. How important you are for me. With little smileys and colorful hearts.

We will spend time together. We could go to the beach, to a concert, to the park. And all James Blunt's songs will speak about us.

And we´ll take selfies that will become a trending topic on tweeter  #meandmybeetroot

Because what has now born between us is special. It is epic. It is the beginning of something real, something great, something awesome.

Beetroot, I love you.

xxx

WHAT DO YOU NEED

3 Fresh Beetroot

125gr Ricotta Cheese

100gr Pastrami

400gr White Sliced Bread

1cup Fresh Milk

2tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

30gr Butter

Pepper to taste

WHAT DO YOU DO

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Wash the beetroot under cold running water, cut away the leaves and wrap in kitchen foil. Place them in a roasting tin and bake for 40 minutes.

In the meantime, put the sliced bread in a bowl and crumble with your hands. Add the milk, olive oil and pepper and knead until you have a compact ball. Cover with cling film and leave to set in the fridge for 15 mins.

When the beetroot are soft, take them out of the oven and leave to cool. Then, rub the skin away and chop the beetroot.

Put the sliced bread ball between two large pieces of cling film and flatten with the help of a rolling pin. When the surface is smooth and has a thickness of about 0.5 cm, remove the top layer of cling film.

Let's start filling the roulade. Place the ricotta cheese along, and with the help of the bottom layer of cling film, roll up the bread to cover the cheese.

Now add the beetroot and do the same. Tip: pressing the roulade looks using the cling film to make it compact. Finally, add the slices of pastrami lengthwise and roll with remaining bread.

Melt butter and paint with it the surface of the roulade. Wrap it in greaseproof paper and bake about 25 minutes at 170C. Tip: You can flip the roulade halfway for browned on both sides.

 Serve and eat warm.