Serving size: Serves 4

Rhubarb salad Peter Gilmore of Quay.

INGREDIENTS

Rice wine pickling liquid
500ml rice wine vinegar
100g sugar
500ml verjuice (made from the juice of unfermented grapes)

Pickled vegetables (best prepared the day before)
3 red rhubarb sticks
200ml verjuice
8 baby beetroot
370ml rice wine vinegar pickle (see ingredients above)
2 endive
500ml verjuice pickle

Roasted eschalots
12 eschalots
Salt
Olive oil
130ml rice wine pickle (see indredients above)

Raw vegetables
8 purple carrots
8 rosa radish
2 kohlrabi (member of the cabbage family)
Olive oil
Salt

Beetroot puree
1 large beetroot
Rock salt
100ml red wine vinegar
40g sugar
50ml olive oil
Salt to taste

Curd
100g goat curd
100g creme fraiche

Crumb
9 large beetroots
100ml pomegranate molasses
1 loaf stale white bread, unsliced
Olive oil

Dressing
50ml pine bud extract
50ml aged balsamic

Presentation
Red orach (French spinach)
Amaranth (a grain-like seed)
Native violets (flower)

Equipment
Small saucepan
Peeler
Mandolin
Foil
Baking tray
Medium sized pot
Juicer
Strainer
Standing mixer
Frying pan

METHOD

Pickling liquid
Heat rice wine vinegar with 50g sugar in a small saucepan until sugar is dissolved.

Heat verjuice with 50g sugar in separate small saucepan until sugar is dissolved.

Place both liquids in fridge to cool

Pickled vegetables
Peel rhubarb, cut into 6cm batons, slice thinly on mandolin and place into verjuice.

Peel baby beetroot, slice thinly on a mandolin and place into rice wine vinegar pickle.

Cut endive into 6cm strips, 0.5cm thick (white part only, no leaf) and place into verjuice pickle.

Soak pickled vegetables overnight, then strain and pat dry.

Roasted eschalots
Preheat oven to 170°C.

Peel eschalots and place in foil with salt, olive oil and 30ml rice wine pickle. Cook in oven for 20 minutes, then place into 100ml of rice wine pickle.

Strain and pat dry.

Raw vegetables
Peel purple carrots, then cut into 6cm to 8cm lengths and slice thinly on mandolin.

Wash rosa radish to remove dirt, excess roots and leaves; then slice thinly on mandolin.

Cut kohlrabi into half, then cut each halve into 2 long batons, then slice on mandolin about 4mm thick.

Dress raw vegetables in olive oil and salt.

Beetroot puree
Preheat oven to 160°C. Place beetroot on a tray of rock salt and roast in the oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until completely cooked.

When cool, peel skin and cut into rough cubes. Place beetroot cubes in a pot with red wine vinegar and sugar; reduce until it forms a syrup. Puree syrup with olive oil and salt to taste.

Curd
Combine goat curd and creme fraiche and mix well.

Crumb
Reduce oven to 80°C. Peel and juice beetroots, strain liquid, add pomegranate molasses. Place in small saucepan and reduce by half.

Remove crust from bread and cut into thick slices. Soak slices in juice, then place on baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake for 8-10 hours, or until bread is completely dry.

Roughly break up bread and blitz in mixer. Fry crumbs in a pan with olive oil till crispy.

Dressing
Mix pine bud extract with aged balsamic

Presentation
Place 1 tbsp of curd in the centre of the plate and arrange crumbs around the outside. Place 2 slices of eschalots on top of the curd.

Arrange on plate: 3 slices of dressed kohlrabi, 3 pieces of purple carrot, 3 pieces rosa radish, 3 dots of beetroot puree, 4 slices of pickled beetroot, 3 slices of pickled rhubarb and 3 slices of pickled endive.

Drizzle with dressing, a small amount of red orach and amaranth. Garnish with native violets.