Beetroot recipes

It is still blustery and showery here today. I watched two buzzards circling each other on the thermals. They looked majestic against the dark brooding sky. I have been meaning to blog about beetroot for a while. Vegetable growers are a generous lot and when I expressed my love for beetroot we were inundated with various beetroot seed types to try in the garden. Here are some beetroot recipes we love. Feel free to get in touch with your own ruby root food adventures!

• Beetroot coleslaw. This is a recipe I picked up when I was in Moldova. They boil the beetroot in its skin, peel it (the skins just drop off after they’ve been boiled but remember to let them cool!), then grate into a bowl. Mix up with mayonnaise, crushed garlic, and salt and pepper. We mixed up gratings of golden beetroot, salad beetroot and the classic variety to make a sunset version!
• Maddhur Jaffrey’s Pantzarosalata. I don’t know what the law is on giving out other people’s recipes in blog form so if this suddenly vanishes you’ll know I’ve been censored! I’m justifying it to myself with the knowledge that she took it from the Ormylia Monastery in Macedonia in the first place. Chop up a boiled and skinned beetroot then blend it with chopped walnuts, white bread, 1 clove of garlic, olive oil, red wine viengar and some salt. It’s a lovely summer dip to have with pitta breads and salad.
• Catherine Mason’s beetroot tart (or my adaptation of it anyway). Line a pie dish with shortcrust pastry and pre-bake it in the oven. When done cover the bottom of the pie with a layer of horseradish sauce. Next scatter, slices of boiled and skinned beetroot, new potatoes, and onion. On top of this scatter crumbled blue cheese and fresh rosemary. Bake in the oven until it has a lovely crisp top.
• Beetroot as potato. We enjoy beetroot cooked like potato wedges (they go beautifully crispy) or baked whole in their skins like a baked potato and served with butter.