Autumnal Roasted Vegetable Salad With Golden Beetroot, Beans & Paprika Rolled Feta

This roasted vegetable salad using the best of Autumn's produce is simple but very effective. First golden beetroots are sweet roasted along with their nutritious leaves and green beans. This is then paired with a smoked paprika rolled feta cheese that lends a fantastic depth of flavour to this simple salad.

It has a really lovely crunch to it, even the beans that have been roasted for 25 minutes have a good texture to them. Since we've been going to the markets for the last few years I've really started to notice seasons in fruit vegetables which you don't tend to get so much when produce shopping at a supermarket because everything tends to be available all the time.

Autumn has some wonderful vegetables and each season really has a treat in store. And make sure that your smoked paprika is very fresh for that complete flavour. I discarded an old packet of smoked paprika because it didn't sing with aroma anymore. Mr NQN and I crunched through this happily while watching House of Cards one night for dinner (anyone else watching it?). I've become so addicted to it that I binge watched it even while overseas during my down time as I had 4 seasons to watch.

I was recently talking to a friend about funny overseas mishaps and she was telling me about a hilarious incident she had at a spa. It was a beautifully serene location, world famous for its beauty and tranquility. The spa rooms opened up towards a pond and there were lily pads and the sound of the water lapping at the edges. And then the blissful sounds of silence were interrupted by a sizeable water monitor lizard who had decided just then to have lunch that it had freshly plucked from the pond. It had grabbed a fish and had started munching on it disrupting my friend's reverie. Not only was the sound of it munching on a fish very loud but the stench was foul.

"Bad smell! Bad smell!" the therapist said spraying the window with a room spray to try and mask the stench of the lizard eating the fish. My friend couldn't stop laughing at the hilarity of it all, I mean what can you do when nature has a different plan to yours? You just have to laugh don't you?

So tell me Dear Reader, have you had any close encounters with nature? What tv shows are you watching right now? And what are your favourite Autumn fruit or vegetables?

Autumnal Roasted Vegetable Salad

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 10 minutes

• 1 bunch golden beetroots
• 250g/8.83ozs. green beans, topped
• 3 stick green onions
• 5 tablespoons garlic oil or olive oil
• 100g/3.5ozs. Persian feta
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Line a baking tray with parchment. Trim the beetroot leaves and discard any that aren't in prime condition. Scrub the beetroots clean with a vegetable brush and drizzle some oil over them and wrap in parchment and roast for 40 minutes.

Step 2 - Chop the beetroot leaves and stems into 2 inch pieces along with the spring onion. Drizzle oil over this and wrap in baking parchment and create a little packet. Set aside. Then drizzle oil over the beans and when the beetroot has had 40 minutes, add the beans to the tray and roast for 25 minutes (the beetroot need about an hour). Add the packet of beetroot leaves in during the last 10 minutes.

Step 3 - Place on serving plate. Sprinkle paprika on a small plate and roll tablespoons of the Persian feta in it.