Woodfired Beetroot – and what to do with it
Woodfired Beetroot is a lifesaver – normally a vegetable that stains everything it touches including you and sits unmolested in malt vinegar for years; or is that just our house? By chopping it up and roasting it in the falling heat of the woodfired oven, you (we) are much more likely to use this superfood in many guises. Here are just a few of them –
Beetroot heading to the woodfired oven – just toss in olive oil
- As a roast root veggie accompaniment – sounds simple but it’s delicious as a veggie. A bit earthy and a bit sweet, it’s fab with roast chicken, grilled pork chops, sausages……
- Whizzed up with chickpeas, lemon and garlic to make beetroot hummus – a great way of eating your roast beetroot and not just for the bright pink of the hummus.
- In chocolate brownies – yes like all root veggies, beetroot has a natural sweetness to it and keeps chocolate brownies moist. Try this recipe from BBC Good Food – just substitute the boiled beetroot for yours from the woodfired oven.
- In chocolate cake – you can see a theme developing; the chocolate hides the superpink beetroot in baking. Unless you want superpink cake of course. Again subsitute the boiled beetroot for woodfired.
- As a pizza topping – we’ve used roast beetroot, whizzed up and spread on pizza instead of tomato sauce, Topped with chives and goats cheese; outstanding!
Woodfired beetroot and goats cheese pizza
- Whizzed up with some homemade labneh to make a superpink dip for flatbreads or with veggie sticks. Labneh might sound complicated but it’s basically Greek yoghurt strained through a clean J-cloth overnight to get rid of the whey. Season with salt and lemon zest and it’s good to go. Essential in Middle Eastern cooking.
- Dressed in olive oil, lemon juice and mustard dressing with toasted sunflower seeds and snipped chives. A great salad, perfect on top of baked potatoes. Vegan happiness.
- And finally if you need to pickle it, try this recipe from Waitrose. We’re subsituting the dill for fennel tops as they grow wild and readily round here but I’m looking forward to trying this in a few weeks. No malt vinegar – hurray!
If you can grow beetroot, you’ll grow loads