Beetroot and horseradish dip

This is very simple, but really surprisingly tasty. I don't know if it was a fluke, but the amount of horseradish came out just perfect: fiery but softened by the earthy beet and creamy yoghurt.

approx. 4 medium beetroots
3/4 cup skyr
2-3 1 cm cubes of peeled horseradish
lime juice
salt

Boil the beets whole until tender, then let cool (do this in advance if you like). Peel (the skins should just slip off) and chop into large chunks. Blend together with the remaining ingredients, adding skyr/yoghurt until the consistency is as you like it, and adding salt/lime juice to taste. Eat with veg sticks or crackers or bread.

Beetroot soup

We had a lot of beetroot, thanks to A. They were a different variety than the last lot: the shape was longer and the colour lighter. After the watermelon radish I half expected to cut into them to find something surprising (Chioggia?), but they were just plain old beets. Not that I am complaining, I love the good old deep pink ones the best. I have been reminding myself to save some for something Valentines pink, and made some into dip at the weekend, but most of the rest became soup last night, in a flurry of slow-cooked comfort food making that also featured mixed grains and sweet and sour red lentils. It's not incredibly cold any more (back up to -3C), but the constant chilliness is starting to drag a little, despite it no longer being January and it almost being still light at 5pm...

S suggested Borscht at the weekend, so I wanted to do something a bit like a borscht. I knew most were with meat, didn't know that most also contain cabbage, carrots etc. Fancied something a little simpler and totally beetroot-focused, and came across this recipe - based it on that.

2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp caraway seeds
3/4 tsp brown mustard seeds
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
2 small onions, peeled and chopped
1 lb fresh beetroot, peeled and grated
1-2 bay leaves
4 cups veg stock
1 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp dark soy sauce
salt+pepper

horseradish to serve - or horseradish yoghurt (recommended! 4 tsp grated fresh horseradish mixed with 1/2 cup plain yoghurt)

Heat oil in a large saucepan with a lid. Add seeds and fry until fragrant and starting to pop (about a minute). Add onion, cover and cook til softened. Add beetroot, bay leaves and stock. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Add vinegar, soy sauce and salt and pepper, taste and add a little more if needed. Serve hot, with a tsp or so of prepared horseradish from a jar swirled into the middle.


Something simple and earthy becomes something vibrant and wonderful with the addition of vinegar, caraway and horseradish - I can see why borscht is so popular and so divisive. Now I am daydreaming about more of this for dinner, this time with gnocchi cooked in it and chopped fresh coriander on top... And I did that, and it felt like the best idea for a quick, warming, light Winter supper. I should really make soup more often.

Beetroot, horseradish and pumpkin seed dip

We bought some bread and a spicy red (unlabelled) dip from the Turkish store and I promised S I'd make more dips when we got home.

I did a muhammara and a version of baba ghanoush. I also made a beetroot dip. I've made beetroot dip before and it great, but that was ages ago - thought it was time for a revisit...

2 large beetroot, scrubbed
3 tbsp fresh coriander, washed
3 tbsp prepared horseradish from a jar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
3-4 tbsp pumpkin seeds, toasted
1 small clove garlic, peeled
1 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1/2 a lime
salt+pepper

Submerge the whole beetroot in a pan of water and boil for 45 min - an hour, until a fork goes in easily. Drain and allow to cool. Peel and chop roughly. Put beetroot pieces in a blender cup with the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Taste and add more horseradish, lime or salt if needed.

Note: could also be good with toasted walnuts instead of pumpkin seeds.

Winter salad I: kale, horseradish, miso and sesame

Yet another kale salad, I know. I'd actually been craving a bit of kale: having gotten somewhat overwhelmed by it before Christmas this time I was ready. I had a delicious kale and coconut smoothie from Naturewell in Silverlake while in LA, which perhaps awakened the craving...

I wanted a gentler, more digestible kale texture (than raw), so decided to let the kale steam a bit before turning it into salad. We ate a miso-horseradish sauce out the other day which was a great combination and reminded me about my burgeoning horseradish addiction, so that's where the inspiration for the dressing came from. It all seemed to come together really nicely.

1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 bunch of kale, washed and shredded
~10 cherry plum tomatoes, thinly sliced (optional)
1-2 tbsp prepared horseradish
1-2 tbsp white miso
juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp white sesame seeds
1 tsp black sesame seeds

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large lidded frying pan.Add garlic and fry for a minute or two without colouring. Add kale, toss, put the lid on and heat for another minute or two, then switch off the heat and allow to steam with the lid on until tender, then remove the lid.

Meanwhile, prepare the dressing in a serving bowl: mix horseradish, miso, vinegar, lime juice and oils until smooth. When it is ready, add the kale, along with both kinds of sesame seeds and the chopped tomatoes (if using).


Oh yeah, thumbs up, think this was my favourite kale salad yet... or maybe it's not really a salad, just dressed kale, whatever, the spicy-salty-nutty-almost creamy dressing is wildly good.

Celeriac and porcini soup

We have lots of celeriac right now. I love the stuff: it's one of the most wonderful and versatile vegetables, in my opinion (despite being ugly as hell): great taste and texture, lovely raw in salads, souped / pureed, roasted, boiled with lentils, I could go on...  Grandma and I bought one recently and made a soup, mixed it with potatoes for mash on a shepherd's pie, blanched and pan-fried some with parsnips, made a salad with apple...

I wanted to try something new, and came across this recipe (slightly adapted here) in my trusty New Covent Garden Soup Company cookbook.

2 oz margarine
1 medium onion, finely chopped
110g / 4 oz celeriac, peeled and roughly chopped
15g (1/2 oz) dried porcini mushrooms, soaked for 20 minutes with 150 ml (1/4 pint) boiling water
290 ml (1/2 pint) water
200 ml fake milk (subbing this and vinegar for creme fraiche)
1 tsp cider vinegar
2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper

'prepared fresh ground' horseradish (the stuff you buy in a jar in the fridge section) to serve

Melt the marg in a large saucepan and add the onion and celeriac. Cook, covered, for about 20 min without colouring. Add the porcini soaking liquor, chop the porcini and add, along with the water and thyme. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes or until the veg are all tender. Cool slightly, then liquidise.

Add the soy milk and vinegar and taste for seasoning.  Reheat gently and serve swirled with horseradish.


This is interesting. Rich, earthy flavours. S thought I was cooking meat!?! Can't decide whether the porcini or the celeriac dominates, perhaps that means it's perfectly balanced? I felt like the horseradish really brought it to life - strongly suggest adding it (full disclosure: I'm loving horseradish in everything right now).

If making this again in future, I might just use some of the dried mushroom powder I have - would save the whole soaking / chopping mushrooms bit and be a great use for them. I doubled the recipe and used a 25g packet of porcini from TJ's, and one small celeriac (still got 2 large ones left to use!).