Cooking for Pleasure

Beetroot – Not Only Does It Taste Good It is Good For You

Most of us have an image of beetroot as a sliced canned vegetable pickled in vinegar. Doesn’t leave much room for any imagination in creating recipes.

Many people believe that beetroot is good for the blood as it will help prevent anaemia. This is not strictly true or proven. However, beetroot has some great benefits for health conscious people because not only does it contain virtually no fat and very few calories, it is a good source of dietary fibre.

Beetroot has been used for many years in Europe as a treatment for cancer because of the specific anti-carcinogens contained in the red colouring. Current tests are being carried out to support these claims.

The humble beetroot does contain copious amounts of vitamin C, folic acid and potassium, and silica which aids the uptake of calcium, that is helpful in counteracting too much salt in our diet and therefore may help in reducing blood pressure.

So these are the benefits of beetroot but beetroot is an old fashioned vegetable that has not received the attention of food fanciers for decades.

In fact beetroot is quite a versatile vegetable. Here are a few suggestions from a beetroot lover to entice people to enjoy and use the humble beetroot in their weekly menus.

Here is a recipe for Beetroot Rocket and Parmesan Risotto that can be served with a salad for lunch or is brilliant with  grilled  lamb, beef or even chicken. The recipe calls for fresh beetroot but you can substitute drained slice canned beetroot instead.

Or create your own beetroot dip. Beetroot and Cashew Nut Spread. This can be served with a small biscuit or toast triangles or is equally good spread on a slice of toast for lunch.

Beetroot and Cashew Nut Dip or Spread
1 whole fresh raw beetroot—approx 8cms round or 1 tin beetroot 225gms.Best with Fresh beetroot
120 gms cashew nuts or replace with slivered almonds
1tbs extra virgin olive oil—plain no added flavourings
25 gms good quality parmesan—not the packet variety
1 tbs of fresh lemon juice
1tbs white vinegar—no added flavouring
Good pinch of salt

Gently roast the cashew nuts on a baking try in the oven (mod temp) being careful not to burn. They should be a nice golden colour.

Prepare the fresh beetroot by trimming the top and bottom. Place in a microwave safe container with a lid and cook with 1/2 cup of water until just cooked through. Times will vary according to the microwave. Leave to cool and then peel. Rough chop it into pieces approx 2 cms square.

Grate the parmesan or chop into fairly small pieces. Grating is best.

Add to your Kitchen food processor the cashews and process until finely ground. Then add the cheese, oil, salt and nearly all the lemon juice and vinegar and process. You made need to scrape the sides of the processor a few times. Then add the chopped beetroot and process until well blended and all ingredients are finely ground. Try to keep a few chunky bits of beetroot.

Check the seasoning and add the remainder of the lemon juice and vinegar if needed and also more salt if required.

Chill in the fridge and serve with your favorite vegetable sticks or savoury biscuits. This is also great served with small squares of toast.

PS the reason for using plain olive oil and vinegar is that often the extra flavours added are too strong for the delicate beetroot flavour. I know I made this mistake

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