Recommendations
Beetroot carpaccio with Zuidam Jonge Genever
On the plates, paper-thin slices of roasted red beetroot and raw chioggia beetroot overlap like roof tiles, with a dressing of thyme, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey and lemon zest, crumbled goat's cheese, walnuts and caper berries. Opposite stands a young genever with almost the legal maximum of malt wine, flavoured with liquorice and aniseed, which picks up the earthy sweetness of the beetroot.
From the shelf
The bottle
Zuidam Jonge Genever comes from the Zuidam distillery, a family business in Baarle-Nassau. It is a young genever of 35% vol in a 100 cl bottle, with 14.6% malt wine, distilled from a mash of one third maize, one third rye and one third malted barley. Part of the malt wine is redistilled over juniper berries, liquorice root and aniseed. Ageing in wood is not part of this style; for young genever at least 35% vol applies and in practice at most 15% malt wine, and at 14.6% this bottle sits just under that.
The combination
Why this works together
Beetroot is one of the few vegetables with a pronounced sweetness of its own, and an hour of roasting at 200 degrees makes that sweetness even more concentrated and earthier. In this dish the sour side of apple cider vinegar and caper berries is set against it, with goat's cheese for the salt and walnut for the bitterness. A korenwijn, with its malt wine, would lay a second sweet layer over the beetroot and make the plate heavy. With 14.6% malt wine, this young genever has just enough grain roundness to follow the beetroot without doubling it, and the liquorice root and aniseed from the still link directly to the earthy sweetness of beetroot, which falls in the same corner as anise. The rye in the mash gives a spicy side that the goat's cheese can handle. Meanwhile the cold alcohol clears away the cheese fat and the olive oil.
At the table
The dish
- For 4 people
- Ready in 30 minutes, plus 1 hour in the oven
- Type starter
What you need
- 3 raw beetroots
- 3 Chioggia beetroots
- 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon liquid honey
- half a lemon
- 125 g plain goat's cheese
- 50 g walnuts
- 120 g caper berries
- aluminium foil and a mandoline or cheese slicer
How to make it
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Wrap each beetroot tightly in aluminium foil and roast it for about 1 hour.
- Take the beetroot out of the foil, let it cool slightly and peel it.
- Peel the Chioggia beetroots and shave them paper-thin with a mandoline or cheese slicer. Then shave the roasted red beetroots.
- Divide the slices alternately in an overlapping pattern over four plates.
- Strip the thyme leaves from the sprigs and mix them with the olive oil, the vinegar and the honey. Scrub the lemon clean, grate the yellow zest over it and mix the dressing well.
- Drizzle the dressing over the beetroot slices.
- Crumble the goat cheese over it and sprinkle the walnuts and the caper berries over it. Add pepper.
In the glass
Serving
Pour the Zuidam Jonge Genever chilled from the fridge into a small tulip glass, filled to the brim. At about 8 °C it stays cold enough to cut the goat cheese fat, but not so cold that the malt wine and the aniseed drop away; straight from the freezer that spiciness is largely lost. Take the bottle out of the cold a quarter of an hour before serving if your fridge is at 4 °C.
All about Zuidam Jonge GeneverBack to Recommendations from ’t Bockje
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