Recipes for when you have Too Much Beetroot
In this post ...
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.
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.
Oh and here are some recipes for appropriately named sweet spicy Sweetfire Beetroot.
Suzy Bowler
Having been a somewhat itinerant chef for over 30 years I was amazed, on my return to the UK, at the blatant food waste that now seems to be rife in the country; amazed and irritated. So much so that I decided to start a blog about spontaneous cooking from leftovers to show people that there are great alternatives to throwing food away.
