Name: White beetroot taco of rhubarb, goat's curd, lacto chilli and chard
Total time: 3 h
Ingredients: 5 sticks of rhubarb, 4 sticks juiced (you need 225g juice); 3g of agar agar; 5 Swiss chard leaves, with stalks; 100g of rapeseed oil; 300g of goat's curd; freshly ground black pepper; 1 handful of chilli, such as lemon chilli; salt; 2 white beetroots; 28g of salt; 400g of water

Starter
Medium
10 tacos
3 hours, plus 5–10 days for fermenting and 6 hours for brining

PT3H

PT6H

These playful ‘tacos’ from David Taylor use brined beetroot as shells, and are filled a tart mixture of rhubarb and creamy goat’s curd. At his restaurant, David serves them as a snack but at home they would work well either as substantial canapés or as a light starter. The lacto-fermented chillies take a few days to make, but you can use shop-bought fermented chillies instead.

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5 sticks of rhubarb , 4 sticks juiced (you need 225g juice)
3g of agar agar
5 Swiss chard leaves , with stalks
100g of rapeseed oil
300g of goat's curd
freshly ground black pepper

Lacto-fermented chillies

1 handful of chilli , such as lemon chilli
salt

Salted beetroot

2 white beetroots
28g of salt
400g of water

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Barbecue
Mandoline
Juicer

Prepare a barbecue or grill for grilling the chillies

Take your favourite chilli – mine is lemon chilli – and grill it on the barbecue until scorched, or use a blow torch to char the skin

1 handful of chilli , such as lemon chilli

Chop up the chillies and and weigh them, then mix them with 2% of the weight of the chillies with salt. For example, if you have 50g chilli add 1g salt

salt

Place the chillies and salt into a sterilised Kilner jar and leave at room temperature for 5–10 days. The length of time will depend on your room temperature

Lift the lid on your ferment (known as burping) every day to release excess gas build up. When your chilli takes on a pleasant sourness you know you're ready

For the salted beetroot, whisk together the salt and water until the salt dissolves and put to one side

28g of salt
400g of water

Peel and slice the white beetroot on a mandolin to the thickness of a 50p coin

2 white beetroots

Take the beetroot slices and punch them with a ring cutter that is as close to the full size of the beetroot as possible

Place the beetroot slices in the salt brine and leave for at least 6 hours and up to 24

Once brined, drain the beetroot, wash and place into a covered container in the fridge, until needed

Take 200g rhubarb juice and whisk in the 3g agar agar. Bring to a gentle simmer for 1 minute to cook out the agar. Pour into a tray and allow to set in the fridge

4 sticks of rhubarb , juiced (you need 225g juice in total)
3g of agar agar

Once set, turn out onto a board and chop the jelly as finely as possible before putting it back into a container in the fridge

Cut the stalk and leaves away from the chard. Slice the stalk into thin slices and cut small enough strips of the leaves that they can be used to garnish the top of the beetroot snack. Place in the fridge in a covered container

5 Swiss chard leaves , with stalks

Slice the remaining rhubarb into thin slices. If you have a particularly thick rhubarb stalk, quarter it and then slice it. Put the rhubarb in the fridge in a covered container

1 stick of rhubarb

Whisk together the rapeseed oil and remaining 25g of rhubarb juice and put to one side

100g of rapeseed oil

Whisk the goat’s curd in a bowl. If it doesn't hold its shape, place it in some muslin cloth and leave to hang in a colander over a bowl for a couple of hours to release some of the moisture. If your curd is very dense you can add a splash of cream to loosen it. Season the goats curd with black pepper, a teaspoon of lacto-fermented chilli and a little salt

300g of goat's curd

Spoon or pipe the curd into one half of the beetroot discs, leaving a gap around the rim. Spoon over the chopped rhubarb jelly and smooth off

Dress the leaves and chard stems in the rapeseed dressing, season with salt and place over the top of the rhubarb jelly, completely covering it. Add a few slices of rhubarb in between the leaves and stems and serve

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David Taylor

After setting his heart on a career in cooking as a child, David Taylor went on to learn in the prestigious kitchens of Maze, Purnell’s and Maaemo before opening his own restaurant Grace & Savour, where he puts locality and seasonality centre stage.