Sweetfire Beetroot Recipes

It’s the most wonderful time of year, again.  No, not that one – the time of year when Tesco Head Office fails to comprehend or take on board the severe drop in customers when the season ends and the tourists leave Padstow!  They stock up like maniacs and we pick up so many fabulous bargains that we actually share them with the neighbours!

A lovely find, and something I had not tasted before was these little beauties. They are called Sweetfire Baby Beetroot and are indeed sweet and spicy, in fact I hope the neighbours didn't have too much of a surprise, we didn't realise how hot they are.

So what did I do with this bounty? Firstly I made ...

Beetroot & Boursin Risotto 

Serves 2

1 tbsp olive oil or butter
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, finely minced
200g risotto rice, such as Arborio or Carnaroli
½ glass of white wine
500ml or so vegetable stock, gently simmering with the lid on
6 Sweetfire baby beetroot
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp or so Boursin (or other cream cheese)

~   Gently cook the onion in the oil or butter in a saucepan till tender.
~   Stir in the garlic and cook a minute or two more.
~   Stir in the rice and continue cooking and stirring for 7–8 minutes until it looks translucent.

~   Add the wine and cook, stirring, until absorbed.

~   Add a ladleful of hot stock and continue to cook, stirring and staring into space till that too is absorbed. Carry on like this with the stock until the rice is just tender with a little bite in the middle (al dente) and is coated in creamy sauce which will take about 20 minutes. It may not take all the stock or might need a little more, use your judgment.
~   Stir in the beetroot and then the Boursin.

~   Taste and season and stir over the heat just long enough to mingle in the cheese and heat through the beetroot.

~   Serve immediately.

Riso al Salto

With the leftover risotto (I never seem to finish my dinners!) I made Riso al Salto, or “leftover risotto fritter thing” as it’s known in the UK, for a Sudden Lunch.  Just form the cold risotto (it has to be cold or it won’t work) into a cake and fry in a little olive oil till hot and crisp.

Sweetfire Beetroot Soup 

Serves 2

This is another variation on my Super Flexible Recipe for Soup.

Maybe pin this for later!

1 medium red onion – thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small floury potato – peeled and thinly sliced
vegetable stock
6-8 baby beetroot – coarsely chopped

~   Cook the onions in the oil exactly as explained here which is The Best Way to Cook Onions!
~   Peel and slice the potato and add to the onions.
~   Add just enough stock to cover the potatoes, bring to the boil, turn down the heat, put on the lid,) and simmer till the potatoes are tender.
~   Stir in the beetroot and cook for 5 more minutes.
~   Purée in a liquidiser, food processor or with a liquidiser on a stick adding more stock (or cream) to make it just how you like it.
~   Taste and season.
~   Serve topped with a little sour cream if you can – it goes really well.

After spurning beets for years and years due to having been frightened by them as a child I am now starting to realise that they are not the demon veg I thought they were. This is the second time I’ve had a go with them in just a couple of months. 

McDonald's ...

A week or two ago, under duress, my real man and I went into a McDonald's for breakfast.  It was his first visit and the only time I went into one before was about 25 years ago when I was showing a friend why I didn’t think it was real food.  At the time I think there was a sign on the wall saying ...

"Now Made with Real Chicken!!"

On this visit I had pancakes with maple syrup – they tasted fine but were ultra-flabby as one would expect, I suppose, as they'd been steaming in a box. My coffee was fine.  My darling had an egg McMuffin which he said tasted OK but was tiny.  

Actually I can see that McDonalds are a boon to people on the road who just need to refuel but in recent, unrelated to my visit, discussions on FB I have read of mothers who take their children to McD every morning for breakfast on the way to school.  Is that cos they are poor?  Because if so I’ve got news for them!

For how to easily make all sorts of delicious pancakes see here!

Generally speaking the weather is still fab in Cornwall and we've been for a lovely wander in the countryside three days in a row. Our primroses and lots of other flowers are blooming and we saw rhododendrons in bud. Is this normal can anyone tell me?

Recipes for when you have Too Much Beetroot

When my niece Jenny was little she thought that “as a beetroot” was an expression of extremity which didn’t only apply to degrees of redness.  Our Jenny used to run as fast as beetroot, be as cross as a beetroot and so on.

Unlike Jenny I was, like many people, frightened by beetroot as a child (the pickled stuff in school dinners) but am beginning to pull round now which is, to a large extent, thanks to Tesco’s beetroot salad– even my real man likes it!

There is a surprisingly high proportion of beetroot to leaves in the salad so I often end up with just beetroot which, of course, is not a problem.

Today, for instance, I had a very sudden lunch, as is my wont – my survey of the fridge yielded the beetrooty end of a bag of beetroot salad, a little sour cream and three inches of leek.  Obviously the answer was soup, as is often the way.  Not borscht, of course, just beetroot soup.

Not-Borscht for 1

3” leftover leek – sliced

15g butter

1 small-ish potato – peeled and thinly sliced

1 handful leftover beetroot julienne – or even purpose bought

250ml vegetable stock

dollop of sour cream

~   Cook the leek very gently in the butter till very tender.  This is best done by pressing a piece of foil or a butter wrapper onto the leeks, putting on the lid and turning the heat down low.

~   When the leeks are tender add the potato and beetroot and enough stock to just cover the vegetables.

~   Bring to the boil, turn the heat down again, put on the lid and cook till all is tender.
~   Mash with a masher or purée in an electrical appliance together with the sour cream.

~   Taste and season and add more cream, stock or water till it is just how you like it.

See here for Sweetfire Beetroot Soup - both of these recipes are, of course, based on my genius soup recipe which I expound upon in “SOUP (almost) the Only Recipe You’ll Ever Need” – there is even a recipe for yer actual Borscht in it!

Other ways to use leftover beetroot julienne ...

~   As a very pretty garnish as on this ‘ere Finnan Crispy Pizza.  

~   To make coleslaw turn a romantic pink. 

~   Add to stir fries, other soups, bean dips, potatoes when cooking for mashing etc.