[madcat]

I am struggling with my crop of golden beetroot - they are need cropping and I dont really know what to do with them (other than make curry which gets boring after a while!).

Q1 - how do you cook them?  If I boil them, I seem to lose a lot of the colour into the water and presumably the vitamins too. If I steam them it takes forever, and if I roast them with veg oil they go black for a good way inside the skin.    What do you recommend?  I haven't tried microwaving, logically that would be the next step ...    But you guys will know better than trial and error. 

Q2 - What do you then use them for?  A few slices in a salad isn't going to make much of a dent.  Can you put them in a cheese / tomato sauce as a veg, or chop into fork sizes pieces, heat through and serve on the side with meat?  Ideas please!

[Mrs Bee]

I boil mine with the leaves on as this stops colour bleeding.

Then I roast after boiling with herbs, garlic a small glug of oil and a spot of red wine vinegar and seasoning.

I also roast them with red onions, a tiny amount of oil, a little sugar and red wine vinegar so they are sweet and sour, then you can put these with cubes of goats cheese in pastry to make pasties

or leave out the cheese and put the onions and beetroot in ramekins, top with filo pastry as an accompaniment  to steak, venison steaks, or roast lamb.

I sometimes throw a few blackberries in to the onions and beetroot too.

Or use us without the pastry as an accompaniment to a roast red meat. All the above can be cooked and frozen.

Beetroot and goats cheese salad is a classic combination.

Use sliced to make a beetroot tart tatin with butter and a little butter in the base of tine and top with ready made all butter pastry. Sainsbury' pastry is so good there is no need to make your own.

If you want to be fancy then slice cooked beetroot thinly, season with salt pepper a touch of oil and vinegar, then layer slices in a loaf tin interleaved with a soft cheese mixed with soft goats cheese and chives as a supper or starter dish.

Beetroot risotto, add cubes of goats cheese at the end of cooking.

Beetroot soup.

that is all I can think of at the moment.

[Lardman]

I also roast them with red onions, a tiny amount of oil, a little sugar and red wine vinegar so they are sweet and sour, then you can put these with cubes of goats cheese in pastry to make pasties

    

I tried to microwave some cubed, but it developed a skin much as squash does. I imagine you'd really need to treat it as a spud and prick it otherwise you could end up with exploding beets and that's going to end up with bleeding beets.

I like them just boiled and served as a veggy - if you're worried about the vitamins eat more   

[madcat]

Thanks for all the ideas Mrs B!   

Lardman - are you gonna make the pasties first or me?

[Annen]

If they are bigger than golfball size then I pressure cook them with skins and stalks still on.  If they are smaller then I microwave in a covered dish with some water (they don't skin as easily as boiled ones though).  I love then on brown bread or a crispbread with cottage cheese (preferably home-made).  We weren't impressed with beetroot soup, but my son makes it all the time, and we like it just as a veg as lardman says.

[Mrs Bee]

Also, as I have been thinking, beetroot, crème fraiche and dill goes beautifully with any oily fish.

A little chopped chilli or chilli jam added to the previous sweet and sour onion and beetroot recipes is good as is the use of walnut oil with beetroot salads.

Cooked grated beetroot can replace carrots or courgettes in cakes and there are various beetroot and chocolate cakes recipes.

Annie Bell has a recipe for beetroot cake which is delicious.

And I have a recipe for beetroot meatballs somewhere that I am planning to have a go at.

You can also grate it raw and mix with mayonnaise and mustard to make a remoulade.

Roasted cubes mixed with lemon and walnut oil goes well with cold roast pork.

Good flavour accompaniments for beetroot are red onion. cumin, horseradish, capers, gherkins, sour cream, fomage frais and crème fraiche. 

[GrannieAnnie]

I've got a recipe for beetroot wine, but haven't tried it yet!   

I only have red beetroot, but Val Harrison's beetroot chutney recipe is lovely! 

[snowdrops]

I once made a recipe for beetroot with an orange sauce,boiled beetroot sliced( I always twist the leaves off,scrub & either boil whole or pressure cook). Make a white roue sauce with zest of orange in it at the end,well seasoned, I think it had orange slices in-between slices of beetroot,then baked in the oven. It was very nice,not sure why I've never made it again. Not at home until sunday will try to check recipe then.