Smoky-roasted vegetables with whipped goat’s cheese and toasted nuts

This combination of roast leek, beetroot and carrot, made smoky with paprika and harissa, and dressed with a saba-spiked goat’s cheese dressing, makes a lovely light lunch, and also works well as a side dish for sausages or lamb chops. If you can’t find saba, use an aged balsamic vinegar instead; failing that, reduce some regular balsamic vinegar down until rich and syrupy. Serves four to six as a first course or side.

5 small or medium uncooked beetroots, cut into thin wedges
5 carrots, peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
3 medium leeks, tough outer leaves discarded, chopped into 2cm rounds
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp saba
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
A few handfuls fresh thyme branches
300g cherry tomatoes (ideally on the vine)
80g hazelnuts

For the goat’s cheese dressing
150g goat’s cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large tbsp saba
Juice of ½ lime
3 tbsp harissa

Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Put the beets, carrots and leeks in a large baking tray, keeping them well spread out (if your tray isn’t big enough, it’s better to use two smaller ones than to cram them all into one). Pour over the oil and saba, and season generously with salt, pepper and paprika. Strip the thyme from its branches and toss with the vegetables, using your hands to make sure they’re well coated in oil, saba and seasoning. Roast for 35-40 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally; add the tomatoes halfway through. The vegetables are done when they are browning and caramelising at the edges and tender all the way through.

While the vegetables are roasting, toast the hazelnuts in a small roasting pan in the same oven for five to eight minutes, until golden (keep a beady eye on them, because they burn easily). Leave to cool, then roughly chop.

Blitz the goat’s cheese in a food processor with the olive oil, saba and lime, then stir through the harissa until well mixed through.

To serve, spread the goat’s cheese mix over a large plate, top with the roast vegetables and scatter over the toasted nuts. Serve with wedges of lime and the remaining dressing.