Roasted Beetroot and Feta Salad

Beetroot has to be my favourite root crop. I love the sweet, nutty flavours of it and it pairs so well with the sharp, tangy flavour of cheese, especially Feta and Goat's Cheese.  

I love it so much that I have grown several varieties on my plot this year including this pretty rainbow variety pictured below.

   
Now I like to cook my beets in two stages.  Firstly I boil the washed and trimmed beetroots for around 5 minutes.  I then leave them to cool in the pan with the water until I'm ready to peel them.  Doing it this way is so very easy as the skins just slide off with your fingers. The beets will still be firm with a little give to them  You can do this well in advance...they can then be left until you're ready to roast them.   Don't forget to wear rubber gloves or you'll have purple hands for days.

You can make this salad with whatever leaves you have available but I like to use crispy Little Gems. They look so lovely as they line the dish waiting for the rest of the ingredients.

This recipe will serve 2-3 hungry people as a main course or 4-5 for a starter

Ingredients :-     

2 Little Gem lettuces washed and the leaves separated
8-10 Golf Ball sized Beets prepared in the method described above
3 Tbsp Aged Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tbsp Olive Oil 
a handful of Pine-nuts toasted ( or roasted sesame seeds)
12 cherry tomatoes halved ( I used Sun Gold)
half a small Cucumber diced
200 grams/ 7oz Greek Feta   
Fresh Thyme leaves and a few Thyme flowers is available
Black Pepper
Sea Salt.

 Method:-

To roast the beetroots set the oven to 200c / 400f /gas 6

Quarter the beets, place in a baking tray.
Pour over the oil and balsamic and mix well together
Sprinkle with a little sea-salt and a few grinds of black pepper
Roast in the oven for around 15-20 minutes. stirring half way through.
The beets should be almost tender with a little bite to them... if you prefer them cooked a little more then turn the oven down to 150c/ 300 and roast for another 5 minutes or so
Sprinkle with thyme leaves.
Save any residue juices to use as the salad dressing. If there's not much juices you can always add a little more Balsamic to the baking tray scraping any residue . Pop on the stove for a minute or two to reduce the acidity and use this for your dressing. 

While the beetroot is roasting assemble the salad.

Line a 10" bowl with the salad leaves.

 Either cube the Feta or crumble it as desired.
  Now carefully and artistically as you can, pile ingredient by ingredient into the centre of the salad bowl leaving the Feta and Pine-nuts to the very end as the beets will leak their colour onto everything else if you mix everything together. 

Alternatively you can dish up onto individual plates

If you have any Thyme flowers then sprinkle them over.
Any remaining pan juices can now be trickled over.

Serve immediately
 
If you like a lot of dressing then just mix 1 tsp of Dijon mustard with 2 tablespoons of Balsamic, whik up and serve.

  
If you like this wonderful combination of flavours then here's a really lovely pasta dish that I regularly make.  I actually cook the pasta in the beetroot water to create a beautiful purple pasta. I also use the beet leaves in this dish so absolutely nothing is wasted.  You can find the recipe here  Beetroot & Feta Pasta with Pinenuts  
    
 

   

Summery Chicken Pot Roast

Don't you just love a dish that you can prepare well in advance and just leave to tick over for a few hours knowing you'll have something splendid to serve when you're ready. Well here's just the thing. Pot roast Chicken. Get all your veg ready, place in the bottom of the pot, place the chicken on top and slowly roast until you're ready.... Here's what I used but you can use whatever vegetables you have t hand that would go well with chicken.

Ingredients to serve 6

a 3 to 4lb prepared chicken

2 celery hearts cut into quarters lengthwise

2 large onions sliced thinly &

sauteed until tender but not brown.

6 medium carrots cut across into large chunks

1 whole garlic bulb....top cut across but kept in one piece

24 or so small new potatoes

18 or so small tomatoes added towards the end of cooking 

1 pt of well seasoned chicken stock  preferably homemade

4oz pancetta or chopped smoked bacon.....optional

Parsley stems chopped...4 or 5

Lots of fresh Thyme ....stems removed

2/3 Bay leaves

Freshly ground black pepper & sea salt to taste.  

Parsley & fresh Thyme to decorate

Method.

Add a little olive oil to a pan and brown the chicken, turning a bit at a time.

Meanwhile, gather together all the veg & herbs and place at the base of a large ovenproof dish or cast iron dish as I did  

Mix around and pour over the stock

Place the chicken on top.

Cover and cook at 200c for around 30 mins........turn down to 150c

Sprinkle the pancetta on top, add the tomatoes, replace the lid and continue cooking for at least an hour and a half .  Just turn it down lower if you're not ready to serve but baste well in between

Remove the chicken.... cover with foil and let it rest before carving for 10 mins or so

Squeeze out the flesh from the garlic into the remaining juices

Make sure the veg is tender.....if necessary thicken the sauce with a little slaked cornflour

Carve the chicken....place the veg onto the warmed plates and spoon over the sauce     

Italian Bean Soup

           

                                                 

                                                       Italian Bean Soup


A wonderful warming, filling and yet healthy soup including lots of store cupboard or fridge ingredients you're bound to have at hand. This is as low fat as I could make it.

I had a good turn out of my kitchen cupboards this week due to redecorating... I know I had far too many cans in one cupboard, in fact 4 cans of barlotti beans and several green lentils and goodness knows how many cans of tinned tomatoes...arghh a great excuse to use some up I thought.  Well, this soup recipe makes enough to serve at least 6 healthy portions as long as you have a reasonable supply of vegetables at hand,  I added some herbs and parmesan shavings from the fridge for an extemely pleasant lunch for all.

Now what do I do with 3 cans of Black Cherries...wait for the next thrilling instalment


Here's how I made it

Ingredients:-

100g/3oz pancetta (or smoked bacon) sliced or cubed...  Completely optional if you are vegetarian use 1tbsp olive oil instead.
1 large onion diced
1 large carrot diced
2 sticks of celery diced
few leaves of tuscan kale or1/4 of a pointed cabbage... Sweetheart or Hispi thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic crushed
2 bay leaves (remove on serving)
tsp dried thyme
1 heaped tsp paprika
2 400g/13oz tins of Barlotti beans or similar variety
1 400g/13oz tin green lentils
1  400g/ 13oz tin chopped tomatoes
2 tbsps tomato puree
2 stock cubes chicken or vegetable
Parmesan shavings
3 tins of water (using the chopped tomato can)
2 tsps salt
1 heaped tsp black pepper
A little chopped parsley or basil to serve

Heat a large saucepan (no oil) and add the pancetta/bacon or the olive oil if your a vegetarian
Cook the pancetta for a couple of minutes then add the onion, celery and carrot. Sweat for around 5 minutes on a low heat.
Add the garlic , tomato puree, smoked paprika, thyme & bay leaves...add a lid to the pan a sweat further until the veg starts to soften,
Now add the canned tomatoes, rinse the out the can adding the water to the pan plus another 2 cans of water....add the stockcubes, salt and pepper.

Cook on until everything is tender.
Now add the drained beans & lentils.
When this comes back to the boil add the cabbage.
Cook for around 8 minutes until the cabbage is al-dente
Check the seasoning and serve adding a little chopped parsley/basil and some Parmesan shavings
Serve into warm bowls whilst hot and serve with some crusty bread