Roasted beet and carrot sauce: the ruby pour-over for lamb, salmon, and bowls

This sauce is not a nomato. It is its own thing: a roasted root sauce, lighter and brighter than the beet-carrot BBQ base, finished with lemon rather than vinegar and sweetened only by the caramelization of the vegetables in the oven.

Red and yellow beets together give the sauce a deep ruby color with a sweeter, less earthy profile than red beets alone. Carrots add body and beta-carotene. Garlic roasts alongside them until soft and sweet. The bone broth thins the blended sauce to a pourable consistency and adds glycine, a conditionally essential amino acid that supports the gut lining. A squeeze of lemon at the end lifts the whole thing and keeps it from tasting like a vegetable puree.

Pour it over lamb meatballs, seared salmon, roasted chicken, or spoon it into a bowl alongside cauliflower rice and greens. It keeps for five days and reheats easily.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp coconut oil or lard
• 3/4 lb red beets (about 2 medium), peeled and cut into chunks
• 3/4 lb yellow beets (about 2 medium), peeled and cut into chunks (or use all red if yellow are unavailable)
• 12 oz carrots (about 3 to 4 medium), peeled and cut into chunks
• 4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 2.5 cups hot chicken bone broth
• 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice (Meyer lemon if available)
• Generous pinch of sea salt

Yield: About 3 to 3.5 cups of sauce.

Method

Heat the oven to 400 F. Toss the beet chunks and carrot chunks with the coconut oil and a pinch of salt. Spread on a sheet pan in a single layer. Nestle the unpeeled garlic cloves on the pan alongside. Roast until all the vegetables are completely tender and beginning to caramelize at the edges, about 35 to 45 minutes, turning once halfway through.

Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and discard the skins.

Transfer the roasted vegetables and garlic to a blender. Add the hot bone broth and lemon juice. Blend until completely smooth and velvety. If the sauce is too thick, add more broth a little at a time. Taste and adjust the salt and lemon.

Note: Beet juice stains. Work on a surface you can wipe easily, and rinse the blender immediately after using.

How to use it

• Spoon over lamb meatballs as a plating sauce (pairs with the recipe the source is adapted from)
• Pour over seared or roasted salmon fillets
• Use as a sauce base for roasted chicken thighs
• Serve in a bowl under cauliflower rice and roasted root vegetables
• Thin with additional broth and use as a warming borscht-style soup base
• Spoon alongside roasted sweet potato as a plating sauce

Storage

Refrigerator: up to 5 days in a sealed glass jar. Reheat gently in a small saucepan with a splash of broth.

*Adapted from autoimmunewellness.com/lamb-meatballs-roasted-root-sauce/ by Kate Jay*