Here’s a collection of recipes from our weekly newsletters, and some lovely ones you’ve sent in. If you’d like more please have a look at our recipe index!



Beetroot Tips

Beetroot bleeds and will stain your hands. Remove the stains with lemon, or wear gloves.

Raw:

Prepare beetroot by cutting off the tops and then peeling with a potato peeler. After peeling, beetroot can simply be grated, tossed with a little orange juice and eaten raw.

Boiled:

Beetroot can be boiled or steamed for 20-60 minutes depending on its size. It is cooked when you can pierce it easily with a skewer. Allow cooling and then the skins will just slip off.

Baked:

Beetroot can also be baked. Wash, trim the stalks and wrap each beetroot separately in foil. Place in a moderate oven for about 40 minutes, then serve.

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Sweet Beetroot Salad

Boil the beetroot in their skins until tender (you can also do this in a glass dish in the microwave). Cool, peel and then chop the beetroot. Peel the carrots and then grate them. Mix the two vegetables together in a dish and then pour the dressing over the top.

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Spicy Beets And Carrots

Cut the beetroot and carrots into slices or chunks. Steam or boil the carrots in lightly salted water about 5 minutes or until tender but not soft. Drain. Combine the ginger, sugar, orange juice, vinegar, orange zest and spices in a saucepan and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook until thickened. Simmer the cooked beets and carrots in this sauce for about 5 minutes before serving.

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Beetroot And Celery Salad

Hard boil the egg and then peel and slice it. Prepare the beetroot by washing it and then boiling for approximately 45 minutes or until it is tender. Peel and tail and then chop into cubes. Chop the celery. Combine the beetroot and celery in a bowl. Mix the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and pour the dressing over the salad. Toss gently and serve over the lettuce leaves. Slice the hard-boiled egg and place on top.

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Chilled Beetroot Consommé

This summer soup requires no fat for cooking and is ideal if you're slimming for summer. Be sure to use raw beetroot.

Put the prepared beetroot in a large saucepan with the chopped spring onions, the thyme, garlic, parsley, bay leaf and orange zest then pour in the water. Bring to the boil and simmer gently, uncovered, for about 1 hour. At the end of this time the beetroot will have lost its redness and have a pale look. Now peel and dice the cucumber, add it to the soup and simmer for about 10 minutes.Pour the soup through a sieve and leave to drain through (the soup becomes quite clear). Season to taste and add the vinegar and lemon juice to sharpen the flavour. Chill well and serve with yoghurt and a garnish of snipped chives.

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Beetroot Pasta Salad With Orange Dressing

Mix the warm pasta, with the beetroot, apple and cheese and toss well. Place the sugar and vinegar in a pan and simmer over a gentle heat for 5 minutes, stirring. Mix a little of the orange juice into the cornflour. Stir the remaining juice and the rind into the vinegar mixture and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Stir in the cornflour mixture, then cook over a gentle heat until the dressing thickens, stirring. Cool the dressing a little, then pour over the pasta salad and toss thoroughly. Cool to room temperature before serving.

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Beetroot Puree

Place the beetroot and potatoes together in a bowl with all of the ingredients except the butter. Puree down to a paste in a food processor. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Reheat gently in a pan with the butter when needed, although it is just as nice cold with bread sticks

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Spicy Beetroot Salad

Mix together the lemon juice, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, salt, pepper and oil. Toss with the diced beets and parsley. Cover and chill for an hour or more. Serve over the lettuce leaves.

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Spicy Beetroot Soup

Put all of the vegetables into a large pan and add the stock and seasoning. Bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 20 minutes until the beetroot and carrots have softened. Add a few drops of Tabasco, taste and adjust the seasoning as required.

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Beetroot With Orange Sauce

Preheat oven to 150°C/ 300°F/ Gas Mark 2. Put the strips of beetroot onto a baking tray. Mix the sugar with the vinegar in a pan over low heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Mix the corn flour and some of the orange juice together and then add the rest of the juice to the pan with the grated rind. Simmer for another 5 minutes and then stir in the corn flour mixture to thicken the ingredients. Pour over the beetroot and then place in the oven to warm- about 5-10 minutes, or until ready to serve.

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Beetroot With Sour Cream

Mix the parsley, sour cream, mustard, onion and seasoning together in a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer. Add the beetroot to the sauce and cook for a further 5-10 minutes, until the beetroot is very hot. Turn the beetroot into a hot serving dish and serve topped with extra sour cream, if desired.

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Beetroot Relish

The flavour of fresh beetroot is a nice change to the normal canned variety. This relish is fantastic with Roast Lamb. Serves 4 to 6.

Heat a frying pan and toast the cumin and sesame seeds until browned slightly. Add oil, beetroot and sugar and stir to combine. Add the wine and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

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Beetroot Soup With Feta

A nourishing soup with a Mediterranean flavour. This soup is best with roast tomatoes, but if you’re in a hurry, tinned tomatoes or puree will be fine. Serves 3-4.

Place the halved tomatoes in an ovenproof dish. Throw over the garlic and drizzle over half the olive oil. Roast them for 25-30 minutes at 190°C/375°F/Gas mark 5 until soft and pulpy. Rub through a sieve to remove the skin and pips. Heat the remaining oil in a pan and sweat the onion for a few minutes until soft. Add the beetroot and the stock and bring to the boil. Season lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Simmer gently for 7-10 minutes until the beetroot is tender. Stir in the tomato purée, transfer the soup to a blender and process until completely smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Reheat the soup until thoroughly hot but not boiling. Divide between warm bowls and crumble over a little feta into each bowl. Serve with crusty bread.

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Beetroot Risotto With Summer Greens

Serves 4.

Bring the stock to a simmer. Heat the butter in a separate wide pan over medium heat; add the onion, and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the rice, stir to coat well, cook for 1 minute. Add the wine and simmer until it’s absorbed, then stir in the parsley, basil, and the beets. Add 500ml stock, cover, and simmer until the stock is absorbed. Begin adding the remaining stock a ladle at a time, stirring constantly until each addition is absorbed before adding the next, until the rice is tender. Before the last ladle, add the beet greens or spinach. Season with salt and pepper, then stir in the lemon peel and juice. Top with parmesan.

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Beetroot Cake

This recipe has come from one of our customers, David Perry, who wanted to share his recipe which uses beetroot in a surprising way, but works very well!

Whizz the beetroot into a purée and add the eggs, and then the oil. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the beetroot purée. Bake at 180°C for about 30 minutes.

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Beetroot Salad With Walnuts And Goat Cheese

Serve as a salad over lettuce (and washed beetroot greens), or wilted winter greens (cabbage, chard, kale), or on its own as a side dish to cold meats or quiche. Serves 4.

Whisk together the oil, vinegar and shallot in a small bowl. Trim beetroot stem and root ends and steam or boil for about 30 minutes, until tender when pierced. Chill completely, then remove the outer peel and cut into thin wedges. Dress the wedges with a small amount of the dressing, and gently stir in half of the walnuts. Serve as a side or on greens, drizzled with remaining dressing and sprinkled with walnuts and goat cheese.

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Beetroot Hash

Serve with poached or fried eggs, toast and pickle. To cut down on preparation time, cook the potatoes and beetroot the night before. Serves 4.

Steam the potatoes, covered, for 10 minutes or until tender and transfer to a bowl. Steam the beatroots for 10 minutes or until they are tender. Transfer to a bowl with the potatoes. Cook the bacon in a heavy large frying pan over medium heat until ut is brown. Remove with a slotted spoon, reserving 1 tablespoon of bacon fat in pan. Add the bacon, onion, cream, salt and pepper to the vegetables and mix. Heat the bacon fat over a medium-high heat and stir in the hash mixture. Flatten with a spatula to compact. Cook the hash until it is brown on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Continue cooking until heated through, stirring up the bottom crust occasionally, about 10 minutes.

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Horseradish-Baked Salmon With A Creamy Beetroot Sauce

Serve with simple potatoes or grains; serves 4.

Preheat oven to 220°C, 425°F, gas mark 7. Place the beetroot and garlic in a small baking dish, then cover and bake for about an hour, until they are tender. Lower the temperature of the oven to 200°C, 400°F, gas mark 6. Cool and peel the beetroot and garlic and set them aside. Combine the stock, wine and thyme in a saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes until the liquid is reduced by half. With a blender or food processor, blend this liquid and the balsamic vinegar with the beetroot and garlic until smooth, thinning with water if too thick. Arrange the salmon, skin side down, on a rimmed baking tray. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, and spread with the horseradish sauce. Bake until the salmon is opaque in centre, about 10-15 minutes. Bring beetroot sauce to a simmer in a pan, stirring. Remove from the heat and stir in the crème fraîche or sour cream. Place the salmon on plates and spoon the sauce over or around the salmon.

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Roasted Beetroot Salad With Goat’s Cheese And Pistachios

Serves 4 as a light summer starter, or 2 as a main salad with shredded chicken and extra greens.

Preheat the oven to 220°C, 425°F, gas mark 7. Separately wrap the beetroots in foil and roast for about 1 ½ hours or until they’re tender. Unwrap the beetroots and allow them to cool. Meanwhile whisk together the onion and lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Whisk in the oil gradually. Remove the beetroot skins and dice the flesh. Toss with a little of the dressing until the beetroot is coated. Serve the diced beetroot on individual plates over the salad greens; crumble or slice the goat cheese on top, drizzle with remaining dressing and sprinkle with pistachios.

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Beetroot, Carrot And Potato Cakes

These cakes are really tasty, and work well as a main dish with apple sauce and salad - or as a breakfast with poached eggs and smoked fish. Alternatively, leave out the potato and serve with sausage, mash and lots of gravy. Serves 4-8

Preheat oven to 150C/300F/gas2. In a large bowl combine the vegetables; mix in egg, salt and pepper. Add the flour and any extras; stir well to blend. Heat half the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Using 2-3 tablespoons of mixture per cake drop 4 cakes into the frying pan. Flatten each out with a spatula, and cook until just browned and cooked through, 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer to a tray in the oven and keep warm, then repeat with remaining mixture until finished. Serve with soured cream.

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Creamy Beetroot Dressing

Use to dress up salads, roasted veg, or sandwiches. Or toss with a big liver-loving coleslaw of grated carrot, apple, broccoli, shredded cabbage, and onion. Makes about 700ml, or cut the recipe in half.

Peel and slice or chop 2 medium beetroots. Place in a food processor with 1 small chopped white onion, 120ml honey, 2 medium garlic cloves, 120ml cider vinegar, and 4-6 tablespoons mayonnaise. Puree until the mixture is smooth. Refrigerate for up to 1 week.

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Beetroot houmous

If you’re feeling lazy, you could simply puree a cooked beetroot in a food processor and then blend a bit further with a tub of Abel & Cole’s delicious traditional or creamy houmous. It’s a great way to polish off a beetroot at the end of your veg-box-week.

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First, clean the beetroot and place in a small saucepan – whole, uncut and unpeeled. Cover with water, bring to the boil and continue to boil, lowering the heat only slightly, for 1 hour – or until it’s tender enough to pierce a fork right throught to the centre. Rinse under cold water to cool and peel, simply rubbing the skin off with your fingers – it should come off quite easily – if not, it’s not fully cooked. Once cooked and peeled, roughly chop, then puree until its as smooth as you can get it. Place in a bowl and make the houmous. First warm the chickpeas (just pour the entire contents from the tin into a pan) for 10 minutes over a low heat. Strain the cooking liquid off. Then simply pureeing the chickpeas with the garlic, tahini, oil and lemon until smooth (you may need a few extra tbsp water or lemon juice to loosen it). Once your houmous is ready, add the beetroot to the food processor and blend until smooth. Chill for at least half an hour and eat within 2 days of making it.

Beetroot ravioli with broad beans pesto

This is the simplest pasta recipe you'll ever find - no machines, just your hands and a rolling pin. Serves 4.


Sift the flour and salt. Make well in the centre. Break eggs in the centre. Add oil and water. Mix using your hands until you have a soft dough - add drops of water if it's too dry. Knead on a floured surface for 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Quarter the dough. Roll on a floured surface until 1/2cm thick. Cut into 3cm diameter rounds using a glass or jar as a cutter. Then, roll each round as thin as you can get it. Pair the circles. Brush one half with water. Add 1tsp of filling. Top and seal, patting sides down and drawing out any air pockets. Re-cut ravioli using the same glass/jar - this will tidy the edges. Dust with flour. Place on a baking sheet, cover with a dry cloth. Continue with remaining dough. Bring a very large pot of salted water to the boil. Cook in batches of 6 for 3-5 minutes - until glossy and cooked through. Use slotted spoon to remove from pan, place in a colander, drizzle with oil, plate and spoon pesto over.

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A toasty beetroot, gorgonzola dolce, walnut and date, summer herb salad ­

This salad is lovely with grilled mackerel or slivers of cold or hot roast beef. Serves 2.

First, boil the beetroot. Cover with water (leave the beet in its skin), bring to the boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for 1 hour or until you can pierce right through it using a fork. Once cooked, drain, cool, rinse under cold water and rub the skin off using your fingers. Cut the beet in half and shave off longish strips, over a bowl using a vegetable peeler. Dress the beetroot with olive oil, lemon juice, a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Roughly chop the herbs. Add half of these to the beet. Slice the toast into 1cm strips, then roughly slice into little cubes. Divide beetroot between plates. Crumble over toast pieces. Lightly toss - try not to 'stain' the bread with the beetroot. The cheese is quite soft and runny but try to cut into little pieces as best as you can - just breaking it up so you can divide it between the plates and arrange over the salad. Again, gently fold through the salad. Top with remaining herbs and eat!

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Dark chocolate ginger beetroot cake

A Shropshire-based beetroot grower once invited me for tea and offered me a slice of chocolate beetroot cake, alongside beetroot sorbet and other beet treats. This is my take on the cake. It's a fabulous way to use up your roots, and the beetroot is not there as a gimmicky ingredient. It lends a lovely moistness, an earthy sweetness and a rich, ruby tinge. Serves 8.


First, cook your beetroot. Put in a pot, cover with water and boil for 1 hour, or until tender enough to pierce right through with a fork. Peel, brushing the skin off with your fingers while holding the beets under a lightly running tap. Roughly chop and puree in a food processor until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Separate the eggs. Whisk the yolks with the butter and the sugar until pale and creamy. Whisk the whites until stiff and meringue-like. Gently fold the yolk mix to the flour. Then, fold the whites in 1/3 at a time. Gently stir in the beet puree, chocolate and ginger.

Grease an 18.5cm (7in) cake tin with butter, dust with enough flour to coat - or line with parchment paper. Add the cake mix. Bake for 50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. It will be fairly moist, almost fudgy in the middle. Allow to sit for 10 minutes, then turn our and cool on a rack. Serve with crème fraiche.

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Beetroot and onion chutney

This is another beetroot recipe inspired by my grower friends. Feature it on a wooden board as part of a Ploughman's lunch, with Godminster Vintage Cheddar, some crusty bread, smoked ham, fresh tomatoes and leaves of lettuce. Fills 2-3 300g jars.


Mix all the ingredients together in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes. Put into jars (sterilised if you plan to keep the chutney longer than 1 week) while the chutney is still hot.

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Beetroot and Brie on Toast

There's nothing more simple, yet more satisfying than cheese on toast. I was starving one day, had little time and had a bit of cooked beetroot in the fridge that needed using up. I sliced it fairly thinly popped it on top of a buttered sliced of sourdough, laid on a few thick slices of Brie and popped it under the toaster until it was all bubbly and golden. It was absolutely delicious. Simple, yet satisfying. Do try it! Serves as many or as few as you like, and pair with a simple, balsamic dressed salad of green battavia lettuce leaves.

Wash the beetroot carefully under the cold tap. Don't scrub, simply rub off any earth with your fingers. Don't damage the skin or cut the ends or it will bleed its colour during cooking. Put the beetroot into a pan, cover with water, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for anything from 20 minutes to 2 hours depending on their size and age. The beetroot are cooked when the skins rub off easily. When cool enough to handle, rub off the skins. Boil the beetroot as soon as you get your box, store peeled, whole or sliced, in the fridge for up to 3 days. Once ready to eat, simply slice your bread, slather with butter or olive oil, pile on a layer of beetroot. Top generously with cheese and grill until golden. You could tart it up a bit - say, by laying a few whole chive straws across the top - and serve it as a starter!

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My granny's pickled beets

I've been eating these for as long as I can remember. My granny always has a jar of them on the table when I come over. We have them before dinner, along with fresh vegetables from my granddad's garden (radishes, slices of cucumber in vinegar, peppers and tomatoes). They're also really lovely served alongside roast beef. Makes 2 medium-sized jars.

Peel the cooked beets and cut into 3cm hunks. Heat the vinegar, water, sugar and spices in a large pan. Bring just to the boiling poin. Add the beets and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then, pack in sterile jars, fill with hot liquid. Seal. If you don't fancy properly pickling them, simply follow the instructions, place the beets in a fridge-friendly container, allow the beets to cool fully and then store in the fridge for up to a week.

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Keith’s lovely beetroot penne

I recently made this lovely dish from Keith Abel’s cookbook: Cooking Outside the Box: Easy, Seasonal, Organic. It’s a great way to use up all the lovely beetroot that we keep getting this summer. Serves 4.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Place the whole beetroot in an oiled baking pan, rub with olive oil and cover tightly with foil. Roast the beetroot until fork tender. The cooking time will vary according to the size of the beetroot, but will probably be around 1-1 ½ hours.

When the beetroot is cooked through, remove it from the oven and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, start boiling a pan of water for the pasta and preparing the other ingredients. When the water has boiled, add the pasta and cook according to the packet instructions.

Now peel the beetroot (the skin should slip off easily), remove any remaining stems or hard bits, and cut into bite-sized chunks. Saute the garlic in a pan with a few glugs of olive oil for a couple of minutes over a medium heat. Then add the beetroot and sauté for a further few minutes to ensure it’s hot. Stir in the lemon juice and mix well. Lower the heat and gradually add the cream, cooking for about 2-3 minutes until just hot.

Spoon the creamy beetroot mixture over the drained pasta and top with lots of Parmesan, toasted walnuts and fresh herbs, if using.

If you have leftovers, try tossing them with a block of crumbled feta or goat’s cheese and some olive oil and bake in a greased baking pan at medium heat for about 20 minutes, until heated throughout and slightly crunchy on top. You’ll end up with a rather colourful and sophisticated version of macaroni and cheese!

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