10 more beetroot recipes

We’ve done the beetroot and goats’ cheese, so here are some more simple beetroot recipes as promised.

There are so many ways to have beetroot – and just some of them are fresh and raw, steamed, boiled, baked or fried.

Beetroot adores strong flavours, such as smoked mackerel with rocket leaves in a lemon juice and olive oil dressing, and a blob of horseradish sauce.

Or why not try…

1. Ultra-thin slices – so thin that they are almost transparent – of raw beetroot with smoked salmon and a Dijon mustard sauce
2. Thinly sliced beetroot, caramelised in a frying pan with cumin seeds and a reduced balsamic vinegar sauce.
3. “Beetroot boxty”: grated beetroot and grated raw potato, feta cheese, a raw egg and dill. Shape the mix into balls or cakes, and fry – it’s our veggie answer to a fishcake.
4. Or Shawandar bi’l-Laban – with yoghurt, garlic paste and mint in an Arab dish popular in Lebanon and Palestine. Check out Clifford A. Wright’s splendid recipe.
5. Or beetroot, carrot and parsnip crisps (chips as our North American cousins would say). Use a mandoline – rather than a mandolin – to slice the root veg very thinly, and lightly douse with sea salt before frying in hot oil for about two minutes until they are crisp.
6. Or Elizabeth David’s beetroot consommé
7. Or beetroot risotto – a vivid crimson dish with a splash of vodka, a good fist of fresh dill and soured cream: basically add your grated beetroot with the vodka (or white wine) after frying the arborio rice
8. Or in baking. We’ve already raved about beetroot bread, but don’t forget to try grated beetroot in chocolate muffins and other cakes for a wonderfully moist and fudgy texture and taste. Here’s Nigel Slater’s chocolate beetroot cake with crème fraîche and poppy seeds
9. Or… beetroot ice cream. Yes, beetroot is perfect in many desserts
10. You can even make your own pickled beetroot, and it’s nothing like the harsh malt pickle stuff in the supermarket.

Pickled beetroot recipe

One simple way to make a homemade pickle is to simmer the beets whole, in a mild wine or cider vinegar with four times as much water and a pinch of salt, sliced garlic and a finely chopped chili.

Once the beetroot is cooked, pat it dry and allow to cool slightly, then peel and slice it and put the slices in jars with the marinade mixture.

And don’t forget beetroot as the central star of a fruity chutney, hummus (though you can skip the tahini in that particular recipe), beetroot wine or chapati

Italian chef Antonio Carluccio is a big champion of beetroot, and he recently devoted half an hour of A BBC TV programme to its wonders. His recipes included this intriguing souffle, with an anchovy sauce. We must try it soon.

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