Little Green Blog

One of my favourite foods at the moment is the humble beetroot. Often used in peasant style soups and mercilessly picked in vinegar beetroot is a beautiful treat if you know how to handle it well in the kitchen! Beetroot is easy to grow organically and is the self sufficient gardener’s friend. You can buy small varieties that are particularly sweet and tender; put the seeds into the ground and they virtually look after themselves.

I’ve been fortunate enough to get my hands on some golf ball sized organic beauties for the past month and they make a mouth watering addition to meals.

The simplest and one of the most delicious ways is to bake them. Just scrub the beetroot clean, place in an oven proof dish with some butter (or suitable margarine / oil if you are vegan) and a few cloves of garlic, cover and put in the oven at 180 for around an hour and a half until soft. I put these in at the same time as jacket potatoes for lunch.

You can also roast them with other vegetables such as carrots, red onions, swede and parsnips. Simply cut your chosen vegetables into large dice. Parboil for 10 minutes and drain. Heat some oil in the oven in a roasting tin and add the vegetables to the hot oil. Cook through until soft - around an hour to an hour and a half.

It makes a wonderful coloured dish reminiscent of an autumn sunset, bursting with antioxidants and is a real feel-good comfort dish.

The best thing about beetroot is that it is a true superfood. When eaten raw, it’s a more powerful tonic for your health than a whole bottle of vitamin pills. If you are anemic then beetroot will support, cleanse and build up your blood and if you are convalescing, beetroot will soon put you on the road of recovery.

Beetroot juice has been at the centre of research for many years in Germany. It has been shown that a glass of raw beetroot juice taken daily can be beneficial for treating cancer. It can be mixed with apples, orange or carrot if you do not like the taste of beetroot on its own. Beetroot is used with carrots for hormone regulation during menopause and cleansing the liver.

If you’re not convinced already, then you can, I kid you not, use beetroot in place of carrots to make a cake! One of the simplest recipes comes courtesy of Riverford. http://www.riverford.co.uk/ (the eggs can be substituted for a vegan version)

Ingredients

250g (8oz) self-raising flour, sieved
2 teaspoons baking powder
150g (5oz) soft brown sugar
100g (3½oz) sultanas
200g (7oz) beetroot, peeled and grated (2-3 medium sized beetroots)
150ml (¼ pint) vegetable or sunflower oil
2 medium sized eggs, beaten

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C, 350F, Gas Mark 4
2. Grease and line an 8 inch loose based cake tin.
3. Mix together the flour, baking powder and soft brown sugar in a large bowl.
4. Add the sultanas, grated beetroot.
5. Beat the oil and eggs together, and then add to the bowl.
6. Combine with either a wooden spoon or electric mixer.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 1-1¼ hours. Insert a metal skewer into the cake; if it comes out clean, then the cake is cooked.
8. Cool on a wire rack.

Recipe kindly donated by Tina Richardson a Box Scheme customer from Harrow

 

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