Tina Pemberton, chef-proprietor of The Café at Brovey Lair in Ovington. fuses together the flavours of Italy, Cuba, Jamaica and new York for this roasted beets and chicory salad.
Photograph: Denise Bradley.

Miami, I read recently, is setting the trend in a world of continuing social adjustment. Whether we accept this as a given or stoically rebel against it is up to us. You may not like comparisons with America but, from a culinary point of view, they should not be ignored. My husband, who toured the US as a young actor over 40 years ago, says food preparation was elementary and unhealthy. On menus, there seemed to be little fish but plenty of meat which, he admits, was mainly prime rib and always superb. And the hamburger was already an integral part of the American fast food culture long before it came to Britain.

But South Miami Beach is now officially where it’s at. Showy, vibrant, posy, competitive, it is a fusion of Latino, Caribbean and Mediterranean, where the restaurants, one after another, are “real big on atmosphere”.
It may not be your kind of scene, but for the young ambitious American who intends to go places this is the best place in Florida to party.

I love the menus and tend to write mine in a similar way. It is like reading a recipe book. Every ingredient is listed down to the cracked pepper. Well why not? I learned a lot from restaurant menus when I was regularly travelling in the US. Fusion cooking originated in America in the early 80s. And they had the produce. But since produce from far flung countries has become more accessible, many UK chefs have taken the fusion thing on board.
My own cooking at Brovey Lair is entirely based on the concept of bringing together multi-national flavours and methods. Exciting the tastebuds is what it is all about.

Now, imagine you have an Italian, a Cuban, a Jamaican and a New Yorker in the same kitchen. What sort of a salad could you expect? Not, I suspect, bullet hard tomatoes, Webb’s lettuce and cucumber chunks served with salad cream.

For a long time I have preferred to roast rather than boil or steam my vegetables. Cooked this way enhances their distinctive flavours. For example, those of you who believe the only way to deal with asparagus is to place it in a steam bath should try either roasting or stir-frying it with a little soy. That is the way we serve it in the restaurant and it is totally wonderful.

Roasted vegetables have been featured as part of the Italian classic antipasto tables for years but the humble beetroot, as far as I know, never made an appearance. Bought and eaten as a pre-boiled item is an insult to a gorgeously rich and sweet vegetable nicely contrasted with the bitterness of red chicory.

Both are roasted in olive oil and together form the basis of this very unusual and delicious salad. I have added smoked duck. You could use smoked chicken or ham. Vegetarians might use feta cheese instead.

Sometimes we will serve this as an appetiser to the rare diner who is not into fish.

Brovey Lair’s preferred fish supplier, Bunning’s in Cranworth, has a large smokehouse producing the best duck breasts and whole chickens supplied to many local delis and supermarkets.

The smoking process turns the meat into something really special more moist and with more flavour than the unsmoked versions.

What I love about this salad which has its origins in Miami, although the vegetable were not roasted, is the combination of flavours and textures which fuse together.

Infused with its own juices the salad hardly needs dressing.

ROASTED BEETROOT AND CHICORY SALAD
Serves four as an appetiser

4 raw baby beets
4 whole chicory
8 kumquats or 2 oranges sliced
24 pecan halves
Small bag of roquette
2 large smoked duck breasts
(use smoked chicken or Parma ham as alternatives)
2 heaped teaspoons cumin seeds
Olive oil for roasting
Crystal sea salt to season
Fresh ground pepper
Balsamic vinegar

Prepare beets and chicory
Quarter the beets and slice the chicory in half lengths. Coat both generously with olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper over both then cumin seeds only on the beetroot quarters.

Roast in a hot oven
Roast for about 1 hour on a high light until the beets are crunchy yet soft enough to eat and the chicory has wilted and started to turn brown on its leaf tips. When cooked drizzle with Balsamic vinegar.

Assemble the salad
Slice the duck breasts thinly and arrange in a fan round the circumference of a medium-size plate.
Fill the centre space with a small mound of roquette.
Slice kumquats or oranges and position alternately with pecan nut halves around base of greens.
Place three or four beetroot quarters on the roquette.
Curl two halves of chicory on top of beets.
Add one spoonful of juice from roasting pan.

Summer wines
There are so many wines that go with this sort of healthy food. My own choice would be a lightly chilled red from Beaujolais, but for those who vehemently refuse to chill a red wine, I recommend a Fleurie or a red Graves from Bordeaux. If you substitute chicken or Parma ham try a well-chilled rosé from Italy or Spain.

• Menus are on Tina's website at www.broveylair.co.uk The Café at Brovey Lair has been voted one of the UK’s top 40 restaurants outside London by the Square Meal executive dining programme. The award is for overall experience. To reserve call 01953 882706 at least four days in advance.