Red hot beetroot

Beetroot is a great versatile veggie and I use it in anything going, from baking to salads. It gives you a really good earthy background flavour an dit the perfect accompaniment to oily fish.

This lunch takes a couple of minutes to prepare and it’s good for you.

Take a couple of slices of smoked fish, such as salmon or mackerel. Cut pre-cooked beetroot in it’s own juices (not in vinegar) and quarter them. Mix in some finely diced capers, cornichons, Dijon mustard with some light creme fraiche. And there you have it. A very light lunch.

If you have some leftover beets, just mandolin them into very thin slices and spread them out on a plate. Make a light dressing by toasting a few cumin seeds, adding them to a bowl with some olive oil and red wine vinegar. Pour over the beets and enjoy.

Vegging out

Nights drawing in and I’ve gone into hibernation mode, craving hearty food. But trying to stay reasonably healthy at the same time. Halfway house has been cooking vegetables, being inspired by Hugh’s latest TV series. These are some of the dishes from his latest book which I tried this week. Both are quite easy to make, both under 1 hour from start to finish, and they taste great.

The Beetroot Tarte Tatin is easy to make. I bought mini pre-cooked beets from Sainsburys. These were in vinegar already, so you need to change the quantities in the recipe, adding less vinegar and more sugar. I started by adding some olive oil, butter, 2 tbsp of apple vinegar and soft brown sugar to a skillet pan (that fits your oven). Once it’s all melting and coming together, toss in the halved beets and warm them through. Turn all the small beets with their halved sides facing upward. Add the ready rolled puff pastry and trim off the excess using some kitchen scissors and place the skillet pan in the oven. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 190 degrees until the pastry is well risen. Once cooled a bit, turn it out onto a plate. I served it with some salad around the tarte.

We also tried the sweet potato ‘satay sauce’ gratain. Taking 4 large sweet potatoes, cutting them into thin slices using a mandolin. Placing the slices in a bowl and mixing in some sunflower oil 200ml cream (I used single rather than double), a small diced red chilli and 1 garlice clove finely chopped. Adding a bit of salt and pepper. Then adding half of the slices to a gratin, oven proof dish. Then taking 90g peanut butter (150g felt too much), mixing it in a bowl with a bit of oil and 50m of the cream until smooth. Add a layer of this on top of the sweet potato before placing the remaining slices on top. Salt and pepper on top and bake in a pre-heated oven at 190 degrees (20 minutes covered in foil, 30 minutes without foil). We served it with some blue cheese which cut through the slightly sweet and fragrant gratin.

Healthy January salad with smoked salmon, beetroot and asparagus

This is a very quick and healthy lunch. Grab a bag of spinach, smoked poached salmon, asparagus tips and roasted beetroot. Just roast the beet with some olive oil and sea salt in their skins but top and tailed in the oven for 45 minutes (180 degrees). Make a quick dressing with some olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard, chopped spring onion and parsley. Dress the spinach, boil the asparagus for 2 minutes, chop up the beetroot and break the salmon into pieces and add to the dish.