Hasselback Beetroot with Crispy Chickpeas and Roasted Garlic and Lemon Yoghurt

My favourite vegetable is beetroot. I love growing it and eating it in every state from raw to pickled and steamed to roasted. I’m roasting lamb for Sunday lunch and these bright, textural beetroots will be the perfect partner. Hasselback just means lots of little slits made partway through a vegetable. I don’t have the inclination to steam and peel raw beetroots at the moment so I used pre-cooked beetroot and they worked just as well, plus less mess. After roasting a big batch of garlic yesterday I have plenty to hand but if you don’t have any you can roast some alongside the beetroots.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 2 Adults & 2 Kids
500g cooked beetroot
100g tinned chickpeas
200g plain Greek yoghurt
1 head of garlic (or 2 tbsp of roasted garlic)
1 unwaxed lemon
olive oil and salt and pepper

• Pre-heat the oven to 220° (200° fan) with a shelf positioned above the middle. Drain the beetroot and place in an oven proof dish. Make cuts in each beetroot being careful not to slice all the way through it. Drizzle over a little olive oil and grind over with salt.
• If you don’t have roasted garlic: Remove as much of the outer skin of the garlic as you can without it falling apart then cut away the very top so that the cloves are just exposed. Place the garlic bulb inside a piece of foil and drizzle over some olive oil (about a tsp) then grind over a little salt. Wrap the foil up tightly and tuck the parcel in besides the beetroot.
• Pop the dish into the oven for 45 minutes. About 15 minutes before the beetroots have finished roasting, drain and dry the chickpeas. Put a tsp of olive oil into a frying pan on a medium high heat. Once the pan is hot add the chickpeas and grind over some salt. Let the chickpeas cook without moving them for at least a minute then give the pan a shake and carry on cooking for another 3-4 minutes shaking the pan every now and then. The chickpeas should colour and crisp (the odd one might even pop).
• Tip the yoghurt into a bowl. Zest the lemon and put 3/4 of it into the bowl of yoghurt then halve the lemon and squeeze in the juice. Once the beetroots are done carefully remove the garlic parcel, squeeze the cloves from their skins and into the yoghurt (or add 2tbs of ready made roasted garlic). Grind over a little salt then stir everything together.
• Spread the yoghurt onto a serving dish and top with the hasselback beetroots then scatter with the crispy chickpeas and the rest of the lemon zest. Sprinkle over a little chopped parsley if you have it and finish with some flaked sea salt or regular salt if you don’t have flakes.