Beetroot Recipes

Beetroot

Baby Beet Tarte Tatin

[from Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall’s ‘River Cottage Veg everyday’ – if you love eating vegetables, I really do recommend this book].

  • 250g rough puff pastry or puff pastry [ready made]
  • a knob of butter
  • 1 Tblsp. rapeseed or olive oil
  • 2 tsp. cider vinegar
  • 2 tsp. soft brown sugar
  • About 300 – 400g baby beetroot [the size of a golf-ball or no bigger than a small apple] scrubbed and halved
  • Sea salt and freshley ground black pepper

For the Vinaigrette

  • 1 – 2 shallots, or 3 – 4 spring onions – trimmed and finely chopped
  • 1 tsp. English mustard
  • 1Tblsp. cider vinegar
  • 4 Tblsp. rapeseed oil
  • a pinch of sugar
  • a handful of parsley leaves finely chopped

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 190 C/ Mark 5 gas. Rollout the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 5mm. Take an ovenproof frying pan [or a tarte tatin dish] roughly 20cm in diameter, place it upside down on the pastry and cut around it. Wrap the pastry disc and place it in the fridge.
  2. Melt the butter with the oil in the frying pan [or tatin dish]. Add the cider vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper and stir well, then add the halved beetroots and toss in the juices. You want the beetroot to fit the pan snugly so, add a few more if you need to. Cover the pan with foil, transfer to the oven and roast for 30-40 minutes, until the beetroots are tender.
  3. Take the pan from the oven and rearrange the beetroot halves neatly, placing them cut side up. Lay the pastry disc over the beetroot, patting it down and tucking the edges down the side of the pan. Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the pastry is fully puffed up and golden brown.
  4. Leave the tarte to cool in its dish for about 15 minutes then turn it out by putting a plate over the top and inverting it. Pour any juices left in the pan back over the beetroot.
  5. Put the ingredients for the vinaigrette into a screw-topped jar, season well with salt and pepper and shake to combine. Trickle over the tarte and serve.

Beetroot Soup

(or Borsch, Borscht – even Barscht) [recipe by M McCartney

There are many recipes, some more complicated than others – do Google for recipes, but choose one that is simple and quick to make:- try this one:

  • 1 lb/ ½ kiko beetroot ( 500 gms)
  • 1 onion – finely chopped
  • 1 leek – finely chopped
  • 1 stick celery – finely chopped
  • 1 large carrot – finely chopped
  • 1 large potato – diced or finely chopped
  • 1 Tblsp olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 2/3 cloves garlic – finely chopped
  • 1 tsp caraway seeds
  • 1 ltr vegetable stock ( or enough to cover the veg. in the pan)

Method

  1. Instead of chopping the vegetables, you might like to put them through a food processor.
  2. In a large pan, gently fry the onion, garlic, caraway seed and leek without colour in the olive oil.
  3. Add the vegetables ( potato, beetroot, celery and carrot).
  4. Add the stock , season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil.
  5. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for approx. 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the vegetables are tender.
  6. Pass the soup through a sieve or a liquidiser and check the seasoning. Add more if necessary.
  7. Reheat, and serve with dollops of cream or soured cream and chives on top.

Roasted Carrots and Beets

[from Jamie Oliver – ‘Jamie at Home’]

  • 750g carrots, [mixed colours if available], peeled
  • 750g beetroots, [different sizes and colours if available]
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 bulb garlic – broken apart with half of the cloves smashed and half left whole
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • juice of 1 orange
  • a few sprigs of fresh thyme [leaves picked], a few sprigs of fresh rosemary [leaves picked]
  • 5 Tblsp balsamic vinegar

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 220C/ Gas 7. Put the carrots into a large pot and the beets into another then add enough water to cover them. Season with salt and bring to the boil. Cook for 15 – 20 mins until just tender, then drain and place in seperate bowls. Peel the beets and cut any larger carrots and beets in half or quarters. Smaller ones can stay whole.
  2. Now add the the flavourings while the veg are still hot. Toss the carrots with half the smashed garlic and a glug of olive oil then lightly season. Add the orange juice and the thyme leaves and toss again. Mix the beets with the rest of the garlic, rosemary, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. They can now be put into seperate oven proof dishes or together in a raosting pan – but keep seperate in the pan. Place in the middle of the pre-heated oven and roast for around half an hour or until golden.
  3. Remove the carrots and beets from the oven – they should be nice and sticky by now. Serve hot.

Beetroot, Tomato, Capers and Mozzarella

[from ‘River Cafe Two Easy’ – Rose Gray & Ruth Rogers]

  1. Boil the beetroots until tender, then peel and slice into 5mm discs.
  2. Slice the plum tomatoes into similar sized discs.
  3. Wash the salt from the salted capers and drain.
  4. Mix the capers with red wine vinegar and olive oil.
  5. Combine the tomatoes and beetroots, season then stir in the capers and juices.
  6. Place on a plate with a scoop of Mozzarella and torn up basil leaves.