pulp friction

Beetroot – love them or hate them? Well I used to thoroughly dislike the mouth puckering vinegar soaked ones you’d find in jars, but cooked and eaten fresh, well this is a different experience. Pleasing on so many different levels – their show stopping colour, their sweet, rich flavour and interesting texture, and of course so good for you. Oh and you can persuade children to eat it – no not because you can tell them it is full of vitamin C but because can they see their pee turning purple! 

We grow the traditional variety as well a variety called Chioggia - with an attractive pink striped pattern which would not look out of place in a shop selling pretty vintage crockery. Unfortunately, they lose their stripes when cooked but sliced thinly and served raw with vinaigrette  they are pretty and delicious.

 

When we have a glut of beetroot we tend to juice them. A juicer was a great investment and can whittle down a glut as well as give you delicious and nutritious juice that can often seem more like meals. Recent research states that beetroot juice increases the stamina of athletes and if that is not enough to induce you to start juicing, the zingy fresh flavour of this beetroot drink will. I’ve mixed apple and ginger to soften the beetroot’s rich, earthy flavour.

 

I’ve called it Pulp Friction:

 

this makes 1 medium glass.

 

1 small beetroot rinsed with any leaves chopped off

1 medium sweet apple, chopped

a nub of root ginger, don’t bother to peel

½ lemon

 

Chop everything into pieces small enough to fit into the juicer. Push everything through the juicer putting in the lemon last. Don’t forget to position your glass underneath otherwise you may end up with a scene reminiscent of Tarantino’s classic film of a similar name.

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One of my favourite words in the English language is ‘cake’. I also like saying it, thinking about it, cooking and eating it. I’m always looking out for new ideas and flavours and I have been hearing about chocolate and beetroot cake. Looking for recipes they all seem quite long and complicated and I am a great fan of simplicity when it comes to cooking. So I came up with this – it’s really quick and the beetroot just gives the cake a really moist texture – it doesn’t taste beetroot!

 

Chocolate and beetroot cake with chocolate cardamom icing

 

170 g (6oz) soft butter

170 g (6oz) caster sugar

100 g (31/2 oz) beetroot – 3 or 4 small beetroot

3 eggs

4 tbsps cocoa

140 g (5oz) self raising flour

 

 

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees /gas mark 3 and grease and line an 8 inch/20 cm cake tin. Peel and grate the beetroot and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy – you can do that in a food processor.  Mix in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the grated beetroot. Sift the cocoa and flour together and then fold this in to the egg mixture with a metal spoon.  Scrape into the tin and bake for 40-45 mins until risen. Cool in the tin

 

For the icing, grind the seeds of 2 or 3 cardamom pods and stir this into a little milk. Melt 100 g (31/2oz) dark chocolate. Sift icing sugar into a bowl and add the milk and melted chocolate. Add more milk if you need to make a good spreading icing and then slap this all over the top. I’ve heard these beetroot cakes store for longer but ate it all before I had time to find this out!