Beetroot novice

[LowLevelWhingeing]

I have acquired a pound of beetroot. Only ever had beetroot from a jar before so what to do with it?

Is borscht nice? Or is there something amazingly delicious that needs to be made?

boil peel and slice.
dress with walnuts/feta/spinach leaves & light mustard vinaigrette.

make soup.
boil with potatoes and onion. blend, add double cream and sprinkle a little heap of fresh watercress on top.

roast in oven like any root veg, finish with sea salt and a drizzle of balsamic.

Thanks slim, they sound lovely! Do they take a long time to cook like say, swede? or more like potato timings?

Roasting sounds good.

yes more like swedes.

enjoy!

Just to clarify you boil them whole: uncut and unpeeled otherwise all the red boils out and gets lost in the water. Once you've boiled them (tricky to judge if they're done enough as you can't squewer them otherwise the red will leak out) you then leave them to cool a bit and then peel them. May sound like a faf but you'll be super happy with them. They're one of my favourite things to eat.
If you're making soup (and thus keeping the cooking water then of course you can peel them and chop them first) My DP makes lovely beetroot wine too which you might want to try...

Aah, thanks HH, I wouldn't have guessed that. Hmmm, that's a bit of a pain then as I have one big (like the size of a baking potato) and three small (like the size of tangerines), so they're going to have different cooking times aren't they. Would you care to hazard a guess on timings?

cut in quaters/wedges, don't peel
putin roasting tin with olive oil, tbspn balsamic, tbspn honey.
roast for 20-25 mins

so you can cut them into similar size wedges too!

btw they are amazingly delicious

The tangerine ones won't take very long, maybe 12 mins on a rolling boil. The baking potato maybe 2o mins. Don't worry too much though as it's edible raw too so if it's not completely cooked you won't do anyone any harm. Best to twist the tops/stems off as that will reduce the amount of leaking from that end.. sounds a bit grim...
best of luck and hope you enjoy them.

Roasted beetroot is delicious. If you roast it slowly it caramelises and goes slightly sweet and chewy. However I have to say I find the colour of a bowl of beetroot soup scary when it's sat in front of me!

Thanks y'all! decisions decisions...

I like to make a "dauphinoise". Slice very, very thinly and layer in an ovenproof dish, gently heat cream and a bit of milk with some crushed garlic, pour it over the beetroot and bake in the oven until the beetroot is tender. The cream will turn the most fantastic pink colour!

Just boil for 20 minutes or until soft and peel it. I make a salad with sliced beetroot, vinagrette and chopped onions. Delish!

All suggestions so far plus

grate raw with raw carrot and dress with a vinaigrette dressing (you can also add walnuts)

Oh Tabitha! Will have to try this one.

OK, so the beetroot arrived with veg box on Tuesday and you lot being kind and clever types, instructed me in the appropriate use thereof.

BUT, Wednesday I was knocked out by 'flu and the beetroot is still sat on the kitchen counter where I left it. It now feels slightly soft. Is it past it or salvageable do you think?

You need to make chocolate cake with it. It tastes and looks amazing.

Still fine to cook it if soft, though I wouldn't grate it into salad.

I love pickled beetroot & onion - cooked til soft (I use a pressure cooker to speed it up) as per HerbalHolly. Then once its cooled down peel (skin just rubs off), slice reasonably thinly, slice an onion ditto reasonably thinly, put both mixed together in a bowl, pour over cider vinegar to cover. Leave for at least a day, then keeps at least a fortnight (well, would keep forever, but gets too vinegary).

Have been eating cheddar & pickled beetroot sandwiches for lunch everyday this week!

Made really good chocolate beetroot brownies from the riverford book recently.

Dc and dh loved it and they no likey beetroot.

OK so salads are now out. Very interesting..cake eh?

I think I've got enough for a cake and a pickle, so I might do both. Thanks!

here you go

I left out the Tia Maria, didn't seem to suffer for it...

Great, thanks!

AAAAAAH!!

Just put the big one in to boil and within 2 minutes the water has turned bright pink!! It's bleeding to death isn't it?

I didn't even realise it was wounded underneath all the mud

Just don't forget, the next time you go for a poo, that you have eaten beetroot. Then you won't be scared to death by the colour in the toilet!

(sorry if TMI )

Ah, BIWI, rather like the effect of a blue Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake on little boys' nappies!

oh yes, beetroot and orange relish. should be recipes on line (I often just use beetroot recipe and add orange juice and rind) - yum