Beetroot
Cooking Beetroot
In the Winter beetroot is in season, golf ball sized beetroots are the sweetest and
most tender. Leave beetroot whole, leave the stalks and the root ends
on
and whatever you do, DO NOT pierce the skin not only will this make them
bleed a lot and will have an insipid colour
when cooked, but will stain your
hands and anything that comes in contact
with the juice.
Wash excess dirt carefully and place in a large saucepan and cover with water.
Bring to the boil, and simmer for about 20 minutes to soften the outer skins but do not
let
them go "mushy". Then drain the beetroot in a
colander and cool
to the touch.
Skins will then slide peel off using your hands or a
peeler or small knife. I
don't find my hands get too stained at this point, but you might like to
wear
gloves and I would definitely suggest an
apron
Then put into sterile
jars
with Vinegar for salads... pickled beetroot
Or roast the beets for about 30 minutes, this time of year I like to thin my
carrots and roast baby carrots with the baby beets.
Roasted beets go really well with a
Balsamic Vinaigrette
and salad, and I like to mix a little orange
juice and some honey and pour this over the baby carrots.
Growing Beetroot>>
Growing Carrots>>
Beetroot Cake
Ingredients
1 1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
2 1/2 c plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1 c vegetable oil
1 c sour cream
2 c grated fresh beetroot
Icing sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 160ºC. Put sugar, salt and ginger in a bowl, sift over
the flour and baking powder and combine. Whisk together the eggs, oil
and sour cream. Add to the flour mixture with the beetroot and mix
until just combined. Spoon mixture into a greased 23cm
round cake tin.
Bake for 1 hour until booked, Cool for 5 minutes and turn out onto a wire
rack, dust generously with icing sugar.
Pickled Beetroot
Perfect for hamburgers, stock up
on beetroot over winter so you have lots of sliced pickled Beetroot over
summer, ready for all the summer BBQ’s and salads
Wash 4 large beetroots thoroughly and cook in
water until tender.
Cool and remove skins.
Cut beetroot into slices.
In a saucepan add 3/4 cup water, 1 1/2 cups white vinegar, 3/4 cup sugar,
1/2 tsp peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2
cinnamon stick and 1/4 tsp salt and bring to the boil and then simmer for 5
minutes and strain.
Pack beetroot slices into sterilised
jars and top with vinegar mixture.
Seal and store in cool place and apply
jar label and
hat.
Roast Beetroot Salsa with crispy Bread
Perfect winter snack great with a good movie
Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Wrap 2 beetroots individually in foil and roast for 40 minutes until tender.
Remove foil and set aside to cool enough to handle.
Place 1/2 small chopped red onion, a clove sliced garlic, 1 Tbsp olive oil,
1 1/2 Tbsp red wine vinegar and 1/2 tsp caster sugar in a saucepan over low
heat.
Cook for 3 minutes until onion is tender.
Peel and chop beetroot and add onion mixture and parsley.
Place in a bowl and serve with crispy bread
