Beetroot and lime

This is a delicious side dish to serve with pork sausages, pork chops, ham or with a vegetarian burger. It is tangy and sweet and earthy. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • Around 450g beetroot, unpeeled
  • salted water
  • 1 lime
  • 1 level tbsp sugar
  • 1 level tbsp butter

METHOD:

  •  Boil the beetroot, skin on, for around an hour, until tender. Remove the beetroot from the hot water, and when it is cook enough to handle, peel away the skin, and chop the beetroot into bite-size pieces. 
  • In a small saucepan, heat the juice of the lime with the sugar and butter until sizzling, then add the diced beetroot and heat through. 
  • Serve in a small warmed dish. 

Uist beetroot soup

This year, I have grown some great beetroot, and I made this soup with it. I supplemented the ingredient list with a neep and some carrots purchased from Tagsa gardens. It is really tasty, and I was pleased to find some Polish soured cream in the local shops. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 medium onions, sliced
  • 50g butter
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1.8 litres beef stock (or vegetable stock if you want to make a vegetarian version)
  • 1 large beetroot, around 500g, peeled and diced
  • 1 swede/turnip/neep around 500g, peeled and diced
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 1 large potato, peeled and grated
  • 2 bayleaves
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • juice of half a lemon
  • Soured cream or plain yoghurt, to serve

METHOD:

  • In a very large pot, melt the butter and cook the onions over a low heat until soft. This will take around ten minutes. Add the garlic for the last couple of minutes of cooking. 
  • Pour in the stock, and raise the heat. Add all of the chopped and grated vegetables, and the herbs, and bring to a simmer, and season with around 1 tsp salt and a good grating of black pepper. Simmer for an hour or so. 
  • Stir in the lemon juice, remove the bayleaves, and adjust the seasoning to taste. 
  • Serve with each bowl containing a spoonful of soured cream or yoghurt. 
  • This is lovely with plain or cheese scones. 

Beetroot, cumin and coriander soup

A nod to the BBC good food site, which is a source of reliable recipes. I was looking for new ways to cook beetroot, of which there is a plentiful supply in one of our local supermarkets. I had also grown a few more puny specimens which I added to the mix. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 red onions in wedges
  • 1kg raw beetroot (about 3 very large beetroot) peeled and diced (or you can add a carrot if you don’t have enough beetroot)
  • 2 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds
  • 1 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1.2 litres marigold stock, or other vegetable stock
  • 30g hazelnuts
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds
  • natural yoghurt
  • salt and pepper
  • (I also added some chopped celery)

METHOD:

  • Heat the oil in a large soup pan, and gently fry the onions, optional celery, and a good pinch of salt.  Cook for around 10 minutes
  • Add the Chilli flakes, and 1 tbsp each of cumin and coriander, turn up the heat and cook for a few minutes until the smell is fragrant with spice.
  • Add the vinegar, stir and add the stock. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for an hour. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. 
  • When the beetroot is tender, use a soup wand to blend. 
  • Meanwhile, chop the hazelnuts roughly. In a dry frying pan, add the nuts, sesame seeds and 1 tsp cumin, and 1/2 tsp coriander, and gently toast until the nuts are golden. 
  • Serve the soup with a swirl of yoghurt in each bowl, topped with a good sprinkling of spiced toasted nuts. 

Beetroot and vinegar

I have managed to grow some beetroot this year, not always my best crop, and last year was better. I served this with pork chops the other evening, delicious. Another Nigel Slater recipe, I am a huge fan, and you should buy all his books, the recipes are full of passion for ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:

  • Six small to medium beetroot, about the size of a lime, with the leaves on. 
  • A teaspoonful of balsamic vinegar (you could use any vinegar)
  • A tiny pinch of salt

METHOD:

  • Clean the beetroot and remove the leaves, but do not peel. 
  • Simmer in boiling water for around 20 minutes, or put into a small roasting tin in a hot oven with a little water, and cover with foil, and cook for an hour. 
  • When cooked and cool enough to handle, trim and remove the skin, which should be easy. Cut into segments, and add the vinegar and salt.
  •  Pick out the best leaves, rinse them, and roughly chop, including the stems. Treat these like chard. I cooked them in a small frying pan with butter and a little water until cooked, just a couple of minutes. 
  • Serve the beetroot on a bed of leaves. The book suggests eating with buttered bread and a hard crumbly goat’s cheese. We had them with pork chops. 

Beetroot and carrot salad

This year has been a good year for me growing beetroot and carrots, so I made this salad. I think you could also add other root vegetables, for example celeriac. I also thought about adding pumpkin seeds for a bit of crunch. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • Around 600g of root vegetables, for example carrots and beetroot
  • 1 red onion or 2 shallots
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • mixture of chopped herbs – parsley, mint, coriander leaves
  • 1/2 tsp salt

METHOD:

  • Peel and grate the vegetables on a coarse setting, and mix in a bowl
  • Finely chop the onion, and mix them with the grated vegetables
  • Toast the cumin seeds for about a minute and add to the vegetables
  • Chop the herbs and add them to the vegetables
  • Mix the salt, olive oil, lemon juice and pour over the vegetables. Let the mixture sit for around half an hour before serving. 

This is good with a sharp cheese. 

Beetroot, caraway and goat’s cheese soda-bread

This is a delicious Ottolenghi recipe from SIMPLE. It is so rich and full of flavour, you don’t need to add anything much. It is great sliced and spread with butter, or with a thin slice of smoked salmon. I made it as part of a mega cooking session so that I had lots of food that was good with salad, as this certainly is. I had to adapt a bit to fit with locally available ingredients. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 50g rolled oats
  • 2 tsp dried thyme leaves
  • 50g pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tsp caraway seeds
  • 2 tsp nigella seeds
  • 100g plain flour
  • 100g wholemeal flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 200g grated raw beetroot
  • 2 large eggs
  • 80ml sunflower oil
  • 80g soured cream
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 20g grated parmesan
  • 120g goat’s cheese
  • Salt

METHOD:

  • Preheat the oven to 180C fan. Grease and line a loaf tin. 
  • Mix the oats, thyme, pumpkin, caraway, and nigella seeds in a small bowl. 
  • In a medium bowl, mix the flours and the baking powder and baking soda, along with 1/2 tsp salt. Whisk together to aerate, then add the grated beetroot and all but one tbsp of the oat mixture
  • In another bowl, lightly whisk the eggs together and beat in the oil, soured cream, honey and parmesan. 
  • Mix the egg mixture into the dry ingredients, and fold in the crumbled goat’s cheese. 
  • Pour the mixture into the tin, and add the remaining oat mixture to the top. 
  • Bake for 40 minutes, then cover with foil and bake for another 40 minutes. 
  • Remove from the oven, and set to cool for around 5 minutes before removing from the tin and cooling on a rack. It needs to be cooled for at least 20 minutes before slicing. 

 

 

Beetroot soup with cumin and mint

This is a delicious middle-eastern twist on beetroot soup, warm and filling. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 heaped teaspoonful of cumin seed
  • 750g raw beetroot, peeled and diced
  • 1 large potato, peeled and diced
  • Approx 1 litre of water
  • 3 tbsp wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • a good pinch of sweet paprika
  • 1 heaped tsp dried mint
  • salt and pepper
  • Greek-style plain yoghurt to serve

METHOD:

  • Heat the oil in a large soup pan, and when it is hot, add the onion with a pinch of salt, and fry over a very low heat for around 10 minutes.
  • Add the garlic and continue to fry for another minute or so, along with the cumin and paprika
  • Add the chopped potato and chopped beetroot, and then cover with water, around 1 to 1 1/4 litre, and bring to a simmer
  • Cook for around 20 minutes, until the beetroot is nice and tender. Use a soup blender to blitz it to a smooth mixture, and add the vinegars, mint, salt and pepper to taste. It needs quite a bit of salt. 
  • Serve with a goodly dollop of yoghurt in the centre, and flat breads and chopped herbs and a drizzle of good olive oil to garnish. This is also good without all the extras. 

Beetroot dip/spread

I  made this dip from Ottolenghi’s book, Jerusalem. We had it as part of a meal that included a hot bean and leek dish, some salmon, and bread. This was the best bit. The spices I got mail order from Seasoned Pioneers

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 medium beetroot, about the size of a tennis ball
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 1 small hot red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 250g Greek-style yoghurt
  • 1.5 tbsp date syrup 
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 level tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp za’atar spice mix
  • 2 spring onions
  • 15g toasted hazelnuts, roughly crushed. 
  • 60g soft goat’s cheese or sheep’s cheese, crumbled. 

METHOD

  • Wash the beetroot, and cook without peeling. I boil them in water for an hour, but you can also bake them for an hour in the oven. 
  • Once they are cooked and cooled, peel them and chop them roughly. 
  • Put the garlic, beetroot, chilli and yoghurt in a blender, and puree. I used a soup wand to do this. 
  • Mix in the date syrup, salt, olive oil and Za’atar. 
  • Transfer the mixture to a serving dish, and garnish with chopped spring onions, goats cheese and toasted hazelnuts. A drizzle of olive oil is good as well. 

This is best served at room temperature, with bread. 

Red Soup

Red lentils, beetroot and tomato puree. This is a great soup. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 beetroot, a bit bigger than a tennis ball
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 3 sticks of celery, thinly sliced
  • 2 tbsp olive oil or other vegetable oil
  • 120g red lentils
  • 1 litre of vegetable stock
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • salt and pepper

METHOD:

  • Boil the beetroot for an hour, then cool, peel and chop. 
  • Gently fry the chopped onion and celery in the olive oil for five minutes or so, add the chopped beetroot and stir. 
  • Add the stock, tomato puree and lentils, and bring to a simmer. Keep simmering for 30 minutes. 
  • Puree the soup with a soup wand, and then add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve with brown bread. Lovely, tasty, filling, red. 

Spiced beetroot and tomato soup

I had two more large beetroot left, so I made this soup, adapted slightly from Madhur Jaffrey’s Eastern Vegetarian Cooking, which I bought in 1983s. The link is to a subsequent edition.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 large beetroot, peeled and diced
  • 500ml water
  • butter
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 4 whole cloves
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, or a 2cm stick of cinnamon
  • 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 level tsp ground black pepper
  • Sour cream or double cream

METHOD:

  • Cook the chopped beetroot in the water. Simmer for about an hour, to make sure the beetroot is really soft.
  • Drain the beetroot, and make the liquid up to 450ml if necessary.
  • Add the beetroot back to the liquor, along with the tin of chopped tomatoes and use the soup wand to liquidise
  • In a saucepan, fry the spices in butter, and then add the beetroot and tomatoes, and bring to a simmer.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Strain the soup through a coarse sieve to remove the whole spices, and then add the cream, and reheat.