Beetroot Beauties
Tasty Vegetables
Parsnips
Beetroot Beauties
Beetroot is the vegetable that
distinguishes Australian hamburgers from their pale overseas imitations. It is an essential part of the Australian
barbeque. But these days this humble
root vegetable is no longer confined to salads – it is a star attraction in its
own right. It is one of the few
vegetables that can be used in every course of a meal.
DIPS
You can start off with a beetroot
dip. Simply process some cooked or drained
canned beetroot with equal amounts of yoghurt, add a dash of lemon juice and a
pinch of cumin and maybe some herbs such as mint or coriander. Season to taste.
SOUPS
What better than borscht for first
course? Traditional borscht can be a
very substantial meal. For a lighter and
easier version simply open a carton of beef consommé and a can of whole
beetroot. Drain the beetroot. Save the juice and add a tablespoon or two of
it to the consommé. Grate the beetroot
and add it to the consommé. Heat the
soup gently and season to taste, a pinch of tarragon goes well as does a
tablespoon of sherry. I think beetroot
needs a touch of vinegar – balsamic goes well with it – order to balance its
earthy flavour.
You could also make a beetroot
gazpacho. To make this chilled soup
simply process two medium-sized drained tins of beetroot with a chopped red
onion, a garlic clove and 3 tablespoons of a good vinaigrette. Traditionally, gazpacho contains bread so
soak a slice or two of rustic bread in the mixture and blend a little before
adding some stock. Chill well and served
with crushed ice and a little yoghurt.
For a piquant gazpacho recipe check out this Delicious recipe at http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/23836/beetroot+gazpacho.
Try this baked apple and beetroot soup
for a taste sensation. It works because
the sweetness inherent in beetroots goes with apple. Like cherry soup it could be also eaten at the
end of a meal. http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/3415/baked+beetroot+and+apple+soup
SALADS PLUS
Cooked beetroot and tiny beetroot
leaves are great in salads. Make sure
the salads are well dressed. Beetroot
mixes well with strong flavours and creamy textures so try adding some of the
following to your salad - goats cheese, ricotta, cream cheese, sour cream, blue
cheese, walnuts, hazelnuts, beef, lamb, duck, baby spinach leaves, red onion,
orange, chickpeas, silverbeet and even baby Brussels sprouts.
All these things would go well with beetroot
and cooked pasta to make a more substantial meal.
And of course, roasted beetroots are an old
favourite. As beetroots are tough as
nails it is a good idea to simmer them in water until they are just
tender. Leave their roots on and cut
their leaves a good 3 cm above the beet before putting them in the water
otherwise you will have blood on your hands.
Let them cool a bit, don disposable gloves and peel the beetroot. Place them in a baking pan, sprinkle with
olive oil and any hard herbs you like such as thyme. Bake in a hot oven until the beets are
tender. Dress with a dash of balsamic
vinegar or squeeze of orange juice and olive oil.
DESSERTS
Strangely enough, because beetroots are
somewhat sweet they can be used to make dessert. Think of adding beetroot puree to an ice
cream base. Beetroot goes well with
chocolate. Try this fabulous beetroot
and chocolate pudding recipe. http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/12570/beetroot+and+chocolate+puddings
ACCOMPANIENTS
Try the following links for some
interesting beetroot dishes.
Beetroot pesto - http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17696/ocean+trout+with+dill
+potatoes+and+beetroot+pesto
Beetroot rosti
+salmon+and+horseradish+cream
Preserved roast beetroot
preserve
Beetroot salsa
Vegetarian
Entrée
If you have vegetarian friends and want
to give them a treat for dinner instead of the usual vegetarian fare, prepare
them a beetroot entrée. Artfully arrange
the following beetroot beauties on a plate.
· Beetroot jelly Add 1/4 cup of juice from a can of beetroot and a tablespoon
of port (or more to taste) to a portwine jelly (use less water to
compensate). Pour into a shallow tray
and when set cut into small cubes.
·
Beetroot cream Line a sieve with muslin cloth and place over a bowl. Add a cup of Greek style yoghurt and leave
overnight to strain. Add a little
beetroot juice from a can of diced beetroot to the drained yoghurt (labna) with
a pinch of cumin. Keep the diced beetroot to add to the dish.
·
Beetroot leaves Make a little salad of some beetroot leaves, orange segments,
walnuts and a piquant dressing.
·
Beetroot crisps You can make your own crisps by slicing beetroot very thinly
and deep frying it until crisp. Or you can buy a packet of beetroot
crisps. You can use the crisps to add
another texture to your entrée. You can
even break up the crisps and crush them in a mortar and pestle to make a
beetroot “soil”.
Never think of a beetroot as a humble
vegetable again.
Tasty
Vegetables
·
If you eat food in season or that you have
grown yourself you may find that by the end of winter you may be a bit jaded
with the eating members of the cabbage family and the odd leek, carrot and
parsnip. The fresh greens of spring have
not yet arrived and while we all know that vegetables are good for you but they
can be a bit boring served plain. Here
are some ideas to liven up humble vegetables.
1.
Mix 4 teaspoons of butter or margarine with
minced herbs (eg. parsley, basil, watercress, coriander) and minced garlic and
use to garnish vegetables.
2.
Garnish vegetables with a teaspoon of pesto
or tapenade
3.
Sauté chopped tomato, onions, garlic in
some olive oil, add a little water and place vegetables on top of the mixture,
seal with lid and steam until cooked (check that they don’t burn)
4.
Add the juice of an orange and a little
ground nutmeg to vegetables, this goes very well with carrots.
5.
Sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of grated
parmesan over vegetables, especially good with peas and beans
6.
Dress vegetables with a couple of teaspoons
of dressing.
7.
Mix a little lemon juice, the zest of a
lemon with chopped garlic and parsley and a little olive oil and use this to
garnish vegetables.
8.
Mix a little lime juice, the zest of a lime
with chopped ginger and coriander and a little sesame oil and use this to
garnish vegetables.
9.
Toast some chopped nuts (eg Brazil nuts,
macadamias, almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, cashews) and sprinkle over vegetables.
10.
Toss vegetables in a little sweet chilli
sauce or oyster sauce mixed with light soy.
11.
Cook vegetables in stock rather than water.
12.
Garnish vegetables with a little mayonnaise
flavoured with chopped herbs.
13.
Add a dab of wasabi or horseradish sauce to
vegetables.
14.
Sauté garlic, chilli and ginger and add
some Indian spices and stir into the vegetables.
15.
Toast some seeds – eg. sesame, caraway,
fennel, cumin and add to vegetables.
16.
Add a dollop of yoghurt mixed with chopped
mint or dill to vegetables.
17.
Add strips of roasted pepper to vegetables.
18.
Add grilled or sautéed bacon or bread cubes
to vegetables.
·
Even the Elizabethans loved their
vegetables livened and here are a couple of recipes from 400 years ago that
still taste good.
·
Peas and
bacon
·
Rinse about 1 kilogram of pea pods and trim
off stems. Bring some water to boil in a
pot, add 3 slices of bacon, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for ten minutes.
Add pea pods, return to boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, until the pea
pods are tender. Remove the bacon, and drain. Put peas into a serving bowl, add
salt and butter to taste. The bacon may
be added as a garnish.
·
Spiced
cabbage & onion
·
Place one head of cabbage, thinly sliced, 2
large onions, thinly sliced, 2-3 leeks, chopped, 1/4 tsp. salt, 4 cups beef
broth, 1/8 tsp. cardamom and coriander,1 tsp. sugar, 1/8 tsp. saffron (optional)
in a saucepan and bring to the boil and simmer until the cabbage is tender.
Links
·
Here are some more great ideas for jazzing
up vegetables
·
Jamie Oliver’s website gives some great
tips on cooking vegetables including factsheets and recipes and the value of
eating food in season.
·
This is a great recipe for winter
vegetables and stored potatoes
·
This is a tasty take on roast root vegetables
PARSNIPS
Parsnips!!! A vegetable I detested as
a child but have lately realised is delicious if cooked the right way. One of the best ways I like parsnip is
mashed. Of course you have to get good
parsnips to being with – firm and creamy white, young with plenty of flesh and
it is good if they have had a touch of frost while they are growing as it makes
them sweeter. Parsnips are one of the
few vegetables, apart from the cabbage family, that like growing in winter but
don’t forget if you want to grow them you must use fresh seed.
Mashed
parsnips
1. Chop up 4 parsnips into fairly large
pieces and place them in a saucepan with about a litre of milk and about three
2 cm long pieces of peeled ginger root.
2. Cook your parsnip in the milk until they
are very tender.
3. Strain, discard the ginger if you like
4. Puree your parsnip in a food processer
with lots of butter and season to taste.
This recipe takes parsnips to a whole
new level of flavour and creaminess.
Roast
Parsnips
This is how most of us eat parsnips. Roast parsnips can be sublime if you
emphasise their natural sweetness.
1. Cut your parsnips into chunks or cut
into quarters depending on their size
2. Place your parsnips in a baking dish
sprayed or coated with some olive oil ( you can speed up the cooking process by pre-boiling the vegetables for 5
minutes
3. Add other vegetables that have some
sweetness such as carrots and leeks (cut in half lengthwise) even a few cooking
apples if you like
4. Cook in a 180°C oven for 25 – 50
minutes until they are just tender
5. You can then provide a bit of a
flavour hit by adding some of the following:
o
1 teaspoon of
toasted caraway or cumin seeds
o
2 tablespoons
each of genuine maple syrup and chopped hazel nuts
o
2 tablespoons of
honey mixed with 2 teaspoons of wholegrain mustard
o
4 whole bacon
rashers
o
A slurp of
balsamic vinegar or a dash of balsamic vinegar glaze
Continue roasting for another 5-10
minutes until the vegetables are carmelised but not burnt
Pureed
parnips
Pureed boiled, steamed or even roasted
parsnips can be used for a fashionable smear on your plate to form a base for
other delicacies or turned into soups or even dips with a bit of imagination
and flavourings. Sometimes parsnips can
be a bit fibrous, if so sieve your puree before using it. You can add parsnip puree to mashes of
potato, carrot, sweet potato or peas to add extra depth of flavour. Try
parsnip, celeriac and blue cheese mash at
LINKS
parsnip, ginger puree with basil
oil
Curried
parsnip soup
1. Sauté aromatics such as a chopped
onion, celery, garlic, chilli and ginger in a pan
2. Add 4 large peeled, chopped parsnips
(add carrots or sweep potato if you like)
3. Sauté for a few minutes with a tbsp of
good quality curry powder or paste, you could also add some mustard seeds,
garam masala or turmeric, cumin or Moroccan spice
4. Add 1 litre of vegetable or chicken
stock and cook until the vegetables are very tender
5. Cool a little and puree in a blender
6. Return to pan and add a small can of
coconut milk
7. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves
or fried curry leaves
You can also make parsnip chips by
frying very thinly sliced parsnip rings in hot oil.
For hints for cooking parsnips try
For tips on growing parsnips try
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