Here are two very easy recipes for summer salads. The first one combines raw, shredded beetroot with a simple vinaigrette. For the second one the beetroot is cooked with allspice, before being combined with red onions and parsley. I love them both.
Shredded Beetroot Salad
Ingredients
beetroots
olive oil
sherry vinegar
salt and pepper
Preparation
Peel the raw beetroot and shred it. I use the fine blade on my ancient Moulinex but you can of course shred it using any device you favour.
Prepare a vinaigrette by combining two parts of olive oil to one part sherry vinegar (and salt and pepper to taste) in a small screw-capped jar. Shake vigorously. For 400g of beetroot I would use about 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 1.5 tablespoons sherry vinegar. Taste the dressing to see if you like it. If it’s too sharp add a little more oil.
Combine the shredded beetroot with the vinaigrette. You can add some chopped parsley, or feta, or toasted walnuts, or all three, if you like. Serve.
Beetroot and Red Onion Salad
You’ll notice this contains no oil at all.
Serves 4.
Ingredients
500g beetroot
3 whole cloves
3 whole allspice
1 bay leaf
1 large red onion, peeled, halved, and sliced thin.
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste
½ teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
Preparation
Place the beetroots, cloves, allspice and bay leaves in a pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the beetroots are tender when you poke them with a fork. This might take from 25 to 45 minutes (or longer), depending on the size of the beetroots. Leave them to cool in the liquid.
Meanwhile combine the onion, vinegar, salt and pepper, and sugar in a bowl. Use your hands to scrunch up the onions a bit and leave them to marinate in the liquid. This will soften the raw onion a bit and make it less sharp.
When the beetroots are cool enough for you to handle remove them from the liquid and peel them. (Discard the liquid at this stage.) Slice them thick or thin, as you prefer. Combine them with the onion mixture and the parsley, toss well, taste to see if it needs more salt or pepper, and serve.
This week the recipe comes from Dom, head grower at Canalside:
We’ve reached that special time known amongst pro growers as the Beetroot Bonanza: the moment in late Spring when the new polytunnel beetroot crop is ready to pick whilst storage beetroot from the previous season is still clogging up the root store. In next week’s share there will be freshly harvested Chioggia beets (that’s right, the stripy one) but we will also be trying to shift the remaining blood-red Jannis beetroots from last year via the Extras table, so why not grab some while you still can to make this amazing novelty ketchup! (We also suspect that quite a few members may well have a backlog of shrivelly beetroots hiding away at the back of your veg cupboard…) It’s great with potato wedges, chips or anything crispy. Many thanks to Kate at www.thevegspace.co.uk for the recipe.
Ingredients
1kg beetroot (about 12 medium-sized beetroot)
2 tbsp sunflower or rapeseed oil
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
175ml red wine vinegar
70g soft brown sugar
Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Place the beetroot (whole and un-peeled) in a large piece of foil, drizzle with a little oil, wrap up to enclose them and place on a baking tray in the oven for an hour. After the hour is up, test each one with a sharp knife – if it passes through easily, the beetroot is cooked so remove it. Return any which aren’t cooked to the oven and keep testing every 10 minutes until they are all tender.
2. When they have cooled, peel the beetroots, trim the ends and chop into small-ish pieces.
3. In a large saucepan, heat the sunflower/rapeseed oil and add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and cumin, and cook gently for 5 minutes until softened. Add the beetroot, chilli, salt and red wine vinegar, and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat, and leave to cool for a few minutes. Spoon the beetroot mixture into a blender or food processor, and blitz on the highest possible speed for 2-3 minutes until completely smooth.
5. Return the ketchup to the pan, then add the sugar, bring to the boil, and lower to a very gentle heat. Cook until the ketchup has reached a good consistency – mine took about 5 minutes, but it depends on the water content of your beetroot (and how thick or pourable you prefer your ketchup!).
6. When it has cooled slightly, pour into warm, sterilised bottles or jars. The ketchup will keep, (ideally in a cool, dark place), for 3 months, and once opened, in the fridge for 2 weeks.
(Rebecca will be back as soon as she escapes from the beetroot store)
I know I offered you a quinoa salad only a few weeks ago, but this one is also so good, and really different. And salads are perfect for warmer weather.
This one combines rocket and roasted carrots with crunchy quinoa tossed with currants and a pomegranate-molasses dressing. The whole thing is topped with crispy ringlets of frizzled leeks. It’s ever so tasty.
Quinoa Salad With Roasted Carrots and Frizzled Leeks
Serves 10
Ingredients
1 leek, trimmed
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for frying leeks and for serving
salt and pepper
2½ tablespoons lemon juice
2½ tablespoons pomegranate molasses, plus more for serving
1kg carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch-thick coins
2 cups quinoa
⅓ cup dried currants
150g rocket
Preparation
Cut leek in half lengthwise and rinse away any grit. Slice into thin strips. In a small skillet over medium heat, warm 1/4 inch of olive oil. Add a handful of leeks and fry until golden brown, 15 to 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Repeat with remaining leeks.
In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, molasses, 1 teaspoon salt and a large pinch of pepper. Whisk in 3/4 cup oil.
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Toss carrots with 2 tablespoons oil, 1 teaspoon salt and some pepper. Spread on one or two large baking sheets so they fit in one layer. Roast carrots, tossing occasionally, until tender and golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes.
While carrots roast, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add quinoa and cook until tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain.
In a large bowl, toss warm quinoa with currants. Add carrots and half the dressing and toss well. Taste and add dressing or salt (or both) if needed.
In a separate bowl, toss rocket with enough dressing to lightly coat. Spread the rocket on a serving platter and top with the dressed quinoa and the frizzled leeks. Drizzle with more pomegranate molasses and a little olive oil before serving.
(Adapted from New York Times Cooking.)
This is the most delicious ice cream. Using mostly soured cream (instead of double cream) give a tangy complexity to the ice cream, which combines beautifully with the layers of rhubarb and caramel. You need an ice cream maker for this.
Ingredients
350ml whole milk
400ml plus 6 tablespoons sugar
pinch fine sea salt
1 vanilla bean, split, with the seeds scraped out
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
350ml soured cream
350g rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch dice
100ml heavy cream
In a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, whisk together the milk, 175ml sugar (NOT all the sugar!!), the salt, and the vanilla bean seeds and pod. Simmer gently until sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and steep 30 minutes. Remove the vanilla pod and return the mixture to a bare simmer. (You can repurpose the vanilla pod to make vanilla sugar: bury the pod in a jar of caster sugar and leave it for a few weeks. The pod will imbue the sugar with a subtle vanilla flavour that you can use in cakes, etc.)
Place the yolks in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the hot milk mixture. Scrape the custard back into the pot and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Whisk in soured cream. Chill this custard base for at least 3 hours.
In a saucepan, combine the rhubarb with 225g sugar. Simmer until the rhubarb is just tender and has begun releasing its juices, but has not started to fall apart, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer rhubarb to a bowl. Continue to simmer the juices until syrupy, 5 to 10 minutes more. Pour the syrup over the rhubarb. Cool completely.
In a clean, dry saucepan, sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over medium heat. When it begins to melt and lightly colour, sprinkle in 2 more tablespoons and start swirling pan to help evenly distribute sugar. Add the final 2 tablespoons and cook, swirling pan until all the sugar has melted. Let cook, swirling occasionally, until the sugar syrup caramelizes and turns dark brown. Pour in the heavy cream and 2 tablespoons water (stand back; it may splatter). Simmer, stirring with a heatproof rubber spatula until smooth. Cool completely.
Pour the custard base into an ice cream machine and churn. Add rhubarb compote for the last minute of churning, so that it forms a swirl of rhubarb in the midst of the vanilla ice cream.
Scrape a quarter of the caramel into the bottom of a freezer-proof container. Top with a quarter of the ice cream. Repeat layering until all of the caramel and ice cream has been used, ending with the ice cream. Freeze until firm and then enjoy enormously.
(Adapted from New York Times Cooking.)
Pink beets make a pretty risotto. The crunchy toasted walnuts contrast with the smooth rice, and also add protein.
Beetroot Risotto
Serves 4
Ingredients
1/3 cup walnuts.
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup risotto rice
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
½ cup white wine
3 cups peeled, finely chopped beets
½ teaspoon salt
2½ cups vegetable or chicken stock (or, in a pinch, water)
5-6 cups shredded spring greens and/or spinach
½ cup goat cheese, crumbled
Heat a large-ish saucepan over medium heat. When it is hot, put in the walnuts (don’t add any oil) and toast them for a few minutes until they are fragrant. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn and stir them about to toast them evenly. Remove from the heat and set aside. Once they’re cool chop them roughly.
Add the oil to the pan and when it is hot add the onion and sauté for 3 minutes—turn the heat down a bit if it’s starting to burn. Then add the rice, ginger, and rosemary. Stir around and sauté for another minute or two, until the rice is nicely coated with the oil. Add the wine and let it sizzle, stirring all the time. When the wine has been more or less absorbed, add the beets and salt. Stir them around too.
Start adding the stock or water, about a half a cup at a time, stirring constantly; it’s the stirring that gives a risotto its signature creaminess. When one dose of stock/water has been absorbed, add another half cup. Carry on like this for about 25 minutes, by which time the beets and rice should be tender, and all the stock/water incorporated into the risotto. If the beets and rice aren’t tender enough for your taste add a bit more water and cook for a bit longer.
Once you’re happy with the al-dente-ness of the rice and beets, sir in the greens and let cook over very low heat for a few more minutes, until the greens are wilted. Stir in the cheese and serve, garnished with the chopped walnuts.
This week’s recipe is a comforting, warm pie. The leeks and chicken blend beautifully with the tarragon and cream to make a fine suppertime dish. Accompany it with a salad or some cooked spring greens and spinach.
Chicken and Leek Pie
Serves 4.
Ingredients
1 pie crust
60g flour
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
500g boneless chicken breast or thighs, cut into 2cm pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
25g butter
2-3 leeks, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
80ml white wine
250ml chicken stock
125ml single cream
2 teaspoons fresh tarragon, chopped
1 tablespoon parsley and/or chives, chopped
1 egg, beaten
Roll out the pastry and line the bottom of a 20cm pie dish. Cut out enough for the top, as well, while you’re at it.
Place the lined pie dish and rolled pastry top in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Mix the flour, peppers and salt in a bowl. Add the chicken and toss well. Shake off the excess flour.
Heat the oil and butter in a pan over high heat. When it’s hot sauté the chicken until it’s lightly browned. It does not need to be cooked through. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Lower the heat to medium. Add the leeks and garlic to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes, until wilted. Add the wine and boil for a minute. Add the stock and cream and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Add the herbs and return the chicken to the pan. Cook for a minute longer and then remove from the heat.
Put the filling into the pie dish and cover with the top. Slash the top in several places to let out the steam, and then brush with the beaten egg to give it a shiny glaze. Bake for about 35 minutes or until golden brown.
(Recipe adapted from Bill Granger, Bill’s Sydney Food.)
serves 4
Ingredients
for the roasted beets
500g beets, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (this is not the occasion to use your super-pricy, genuine-from-Modena balsamic vinegar)
3 tablespoons demerara sugar
2 tablespoons grape seed oil (or some other neutral oil)
salt and pepper
for the rest of the salad
1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 tbsp grape seed oil (or some other neutral oil)
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
all the Canalside kale in your share (say, 180g), stems removed and leaves torn into bite-size pieces
salt and pepper
1 handful of pecorino cheese shavings (or use parmesan)
1 handful toasted hazelnuts (optional)
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Place the trimmed beetroot in a 2-inch deep ceramic or glass dish. Pour the balsamic vinegar and grape seed oil over the beets. Sprinkle the muscovado sugar, salt and pepper around the beets. Cover the dish with foil and roast for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, stir the beets up a bit and continue to roast, uncovered, for perhaps another 15-20 minutes. They should be quite tender. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, prepare the quinoa: place the quinoa, 1 cup of water, and a pinch of salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Once it reaches a boil reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until quinoa is mostly cooked and the little tails start to pop out. Remove from the heat and set aside.
In a large pot, heat the 2 tbsp of grapeseed oil over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and smoked paprika. Stir around until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the quinoa, a splash of water and half of the kale. Stir around until kale begins to wilt a bit. Add the remaining kale, season with salt and pepper and keep stirring. The kale should all be slightly wilted, but still firm. Take off the heat and transfer kale and quinoa mixture to your serving bowl.
Arrange the roasted beets on top of the greens and quinoa. Drizzle the salad with the balsamic cooking liquid from the pan in which you roasted the beetroot (there should be about 1/4 cup of it left). Scatter the pecorino shavings and hazelnuts (if you’re adding these) on top and serve.
(Recipe adapted from The First Mess.)
This Easter I am going to try a new recipe: a Torta Pasqualina, or Italian Easter Tart. It combines creamy ricotta with fresh greens baked in a flaky crust—so it’s a bit like a Greek spanakopita. To give it an Easter twist you crack some whole eggs onto the greens before baking. When the finished tart is sliced you get a lovely mass of green with little pockets of soft-cooked egg nestled under the crust. Very seasonal! I’ve been meaning to try this for ages.
Ricotta, Spinach and Egg Easter Tart (Torta Pasqualina)
Serves 6-8
pastry
160g cold butter, diced
250g plain flour
200g ricotta
pinch of salt
a little beaten egg or milk to brush over the top of the tart
filling
600g kale, spinach, chard or other mixed greens
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large onions, chopped
300g ricotta
6 eggs plus extra for brushing
Salt and black pepper
80g parmesan, grated
A pinch of nutmeg
Make the pastry: Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the ricotta and a pinch of salt, mix and bring together into a soft ball. Turn the pastry on to a floured work surface and knead until smooth. Cover with clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
Make the filling: Bring a pot of water to the boil. Meanwhile pick over the greens, discarding any tough stalks and discoloured leaves, then wash them. Working in batches, add some of them to a pan. Bring back to the boil and cook for a few minutes, just long enough to wilt the greens. Remove the cooked greens to a colander and repeat with the remaining greens. When they’re all cooked let them drain for at least 10 minutes. Once they are cool enough to handle, use your hands to squeeze out as much water as possible, and then chop roughly.
Heat the olive oil in a pan until warm and then add the chopped onion. Sauté for 5 minutes, and then add the greens. Stir and heat for a few minutes and then remove from the heat. Mix in the ricotta, 2 lightly beaten eggs, salt, pepper, parmesan and nutmeg.
Butter and flour a 26cm round tin, preheat your oven to 190C and put a flat baking tray in to get hot.
Cut the dough into two pieces, one twice the size of the other. On a floured surface roll the larger piece into a circle large enough to fill the tin, come up the sides and hang over the edge. Lift the dough into the tin and press it in. Add the filling. Using a spoon, make four deep indents in the mixture. Break the remaining four eggs into these indentations.
Roll the smaller piece of dough into a disc large enough to generously cover the top of the tin. Place it over the top of the tart and, using wet fingertips, press the dough to make a firm seal, and then fold any excess dough back towards the centre to make a little fringe. Prick or slash the centre of the tart. Paint the top with beaten egg or milk, put onto the hot baking tray, and bake for 50 minutes or until golden.
Allow to cool a little before turning out. Serve warm or at room temperature.
(Recipe adapted from Rachel Roddy, The Guardian and New York Time Cooking.)
This week’s recipe is for a really nice carrot and cauliflower soup.
Lemony Carrot and Cauliflower Soup
Serves 4
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and diced
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
500g carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1½ teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons white miso
1 small cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
½ teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice, or to taste
a little more olive oil, for serving
smoked paprika, for serving
coarse sea salt, for serving
coriander leaves, chopped, for serving
In a large, dry pot over medium heat, toast coriander seeds for 2-3 minutes, or until fragrant and dark golden-brown. Transfer to a mortar and pestle and crush coarsely.
Return the pot to medium heat. Add the oil and heat until warm. Stir in onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly coloured, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Add carrots, crushed coriander seeds, salt and 6 cups water to the pot. Stir in the miso until it dissolves. Bring mixture to a simmer and cook, uncovered, 5 minutes. Stir in cauliflower and cook, covered, over medium-low heat until the vegetables are very tender, about 10 minutes.
Remove the soup from the heat. Using an immersion blender, purée the soup until smooth. You can of course also use a blender.
When you’re ready to serve, stir in the lemon zest and juice, drizzle with a little olive oil, and sprinkle with paprika, sea salt and coriander.
(Recipe adapted from New York Times Cooking.)
Canalside pumpkin or squash is delicious in cake. The moist and tasty result is similar to banana bread, but (surprisingly…) without the banana flavour.
Brown Butter Spice Bread
130g puréed roasted pumpkin or squash (see below for instructions)
115g unsalted butter
170g wholewheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
140g caster or muscovado sugar
2 large eggs
60ml milk
30g sliced almonds, lightly toasted
1.5 tablespoons sugar (for the topping)
To make puréed pumpkin or squash:
Preheat the oven to 190C. Slice the pumpkin into large wedges and remove the seeds. Place it on a baking sheet and roast until it’s cooked and tender throughout. Depending on the size of the wedges this should take between 15-30 minutes. Peel the squash and mash or purée with a hand blender until smooth. You can freeze any extra.
To make the cake:
Melt the butter in a small pot over medium heat until it’s brown and gives off a deliciously nutty aroma. This can take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes. You want the butter solids nicely toasted, but not scorched. Set aside and allow to cool but don’t let it solidify. Get on with making the rest of the cake while it’s cooling.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter and flour a rectangular loaf pan.
Sift the flour, baking soda, spices and sea salt into a large bowl. In a smaller bowl whisk together the squash or pumpkin, sugar, eggs and milk. Whisk in the cooled but still-melted butter. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture, and stir until just combined. Fold in most of the almonds.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and sprinkle the top with the extra 1.5 tablespoons of sugar and the remaining almonds.
Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until the edges have browned and the centre of the cake is well set and a cake tester comes out dry. Do your best to avoid over-baking; part of the charm of this cake is its moistness.
(adapted from 101 Cookbooks.)