Pascual's Roasted Beet Salad. Credit: Kelsey Shoemaker

Roasted Beet Salad with Habanero Oil and Beet Purée

Name: Roasted Beet Salad with Habanero Oil and Beet Purée
Prep time: 30 s
Cook time: 70 s
Total time: 115 s
Yield: 1
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: FOR THE BEETS; Large Badger Flame beets; Avocado leaves; Water; Canola oil; Salt; FOR THE BEET PURÉE; Habanero; Salt; Apples; Beet trims; Xanthan gum; FOR THE HABANERO OIL; Ginger; Garlic; Canola oil; Salt; Habanero; Lime juice

09 Jun 2025

Matt Conroy

Chef

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Difficulty

Medium

Total Time

1H 55MIN

Cuisine

Mexican

Ingredients

FOR THE BEETS

Large Badger Flame beets: 10

Avocado leaves: 2

Water: 500 g

Canola oil: 350 g

Salt: 40 g

FOR THE BEET PURÉE

Habanero: 1/2 (seeds removed)

Salt: 6 g

Apples: 4

Beet trims: from the roasted beets

Xanthan gum: 1 g

FOR THE HABANERO OIL

Ginger: 10 g (finely diced)

Garlic: 10 g (thinly sliced)

Canola oil: 100 g

Salt: 10 g

Habanero: 10 g (finely diced)

Lime juice: 200 g

This vibrant roasted beet salad layers smoky apple–beet purée with spicy habanero oil for a striking, flavor-packed dish that celebrates seasonal vegetables with textural contrast and depth.

How to make Roasted Beet Salad with Habanero Oil and Beet Purée

01.

Roast the Beets

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Scrub the beets thoroughly and place them in a hotel pan or baking sheet.
Drizzle with canola oil and sprinkle with salt.
Add water to the pan and top with avocado leaves.
Cover with foil and roast for 1 hour, or until fork-tender.
Let cool, then peel and trim.
Slice vertically into rounds.
Reserve beet trims for purée.

02.

Prepare the Beet Purée

Pierce apples with a fork and roast over a wood fire until tender and smoky.
Halve and core the apples.
In a blender, combine roasted apples, beet trims, salt, and habanero.
Blend until smooth.
Add xanthan gum and blend one more minute.
Adjust seasoning to taste.

03.

Make the Habanero Oil

Simmer canola oil with ginger and garlic over medium heat for 10 minutes.
Let cool slightly, then stir in diced habanero.
Once cooled to room temperature, stir in lime juice and salt.
Taste and adjust seasoning.

04.

Assemble

Using a ring mold on each plate, spoon beet purée into the base.
In a bowl, toss roasted beet slices with habanero oil.
Layer slices inside the ring mold on top of the purée.
Carefully lift mold.
Finish with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt.

09 Jun 2025

The Chef

Matt Conroy began cooking at 14, working as a short-order cook at a diner. His career took a more refined turn when he trained under James Beard Award winner Tony Maws in Boston, mastering French bistro technique. In 2012, he moved to New York to join the kitchen at Alex Stupak’s Empellón Cocina—specifically because he didn’t know anything about Mexican cuisine.

“I had done a lot of French food,” he recalls, “and I wanted to do something completely out of my comfort zone.”

At Empellón, he met pastry sous chef Isabel Coss. The two were dating within a year and married in 2015. Conroy went on to lead the kitchens at Little Prince in SoHo and Virginia’s in the East Village before joining chef Justin Bazdarich at Brooklyn’s Oxomoco, where he deepened his passion for wood-fired, modern Mexican cooking.

Eventually, Conroy relocated to Washington, D.C., to helm the kitchen at Lutèce, a French-inflected neo-bistro run by the Popal Group. Coss later joined as executive pastry chef. The restaurant quickly garnered national acclaim, including a spot on The New York Times’ list of “The 50 Most Exciting Restaurants in America,” a #2 ranking in Washingtonian’s “100 Very Best Restaurants,” and a 2024 RAMMY Award for Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year.

In 2024, Conroy and Coss launched their first joint concept: Pascual, a wood-fired Mexican bistro on Capitol Hill. Backed by the Popal Group, the restaurant was named one of Eater’s Best New Restaurants and appeared on The New York Times’ list of “America’s Best Restaurants.”

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