A less conventional way of preparing beetroot, as a warm – even hot! – side of vegetables. Delicious, cooked with butter and horseradish.
Is beetroot only good for salads?
Beetroot seems to be confined to an eternity of salads. From the infamous ‘salads’ of the 70s featuring vinegary beetroot slices and an obligatory hard-boiled egg, through to the new century of quinoa and avocado for company, it’s roasted, cooled, sliced and dumped in a bowl. Poor beetroot!
Beetroot, what might be a surprise to some, can be served warm, like any other root vegetables. We happily eat carrots, braised or roasted, fondant celeriac, sweet potatoes in various forms so why not beetroot? Why not indeed.
It could be that it needs seasoning as roasted beetroot will taste a little bland. It might be that it stains crimson all it touches. But I bet you’ll be very pleasantly surprised by its flavour and texture when you try this recipe.
Grating beetroot
Here, beetroot needs to be grated medium: not to a pulp but not too coarse or it won’t cook quickly.
The inspiration for my recipe is a traditional Polish condiment, cwikla, made from cooked (roasted, preferably) beetroot grated coarsely. Nearly unpronounceable for an English speaker (chveek-wah), it’s a relish of cooked, grated beetroots mixed with fresh grated horseradish. It’s as pungent as wasabi, and grating fresh horseradish root is not for the fainthearted. If you thought chopping onions was teary, you ain’t seen nothing yet – or indeed sniffed.
The finished cwikla is supposed to be hot in flavour, not in temperature, with that peculiar horseradish/wasabi heat that tingles your airways up the nose and further.
Is wasabi horseradish?
You live and you learn: I was convinced for most of my life that wasabi was made from horseradish, and just dyed green with matcha or some such Japanese trickery.
Surprise – it’s a vegetable in its own right. Admittedly it belongs to the family of brassicas like horseradish, and their better known cousins cabbage and broccoli, but it is a wasabi plant all right that’s used to make that pungent paste that goes with sushi.
But I was not completely foolish in my belief: wasabi plant is rare and difficult to grow, so in other than high end outfits and stores it will be pureed horseradish tinted green on your maki roll. Still it will tingle up your nose just like the real article.
How to prepare hot buttered beetroot?
Grated beetroot will cook really quickly so once you’ve done the chore of grating, dinner is almost ready – or at least the side dish.
Simply place it in a saucepan with a spoonful of water, all the butter and a little vinegar. Cook it covered on medium heat for eight minutes. Taste if tender but not mushy, season with salt and pepper and stir in the horseradish.
Start with a couple of tablespoons for a pound of beetroot, taste and add more until it’s still pleasantly sweet but with a shade of exciting heat. Be mindful though how hot the creamed horseradish is in the jar: various brands may vary.
What does hot beetroot go with?
It goes with oily fish, mackerel or salmon. It’s lovely with pork chops and delicious with meatballs sans sauce, or slices of meatloaf.
If you want to serve it with a vegetarian meal, it will pair well with butter beans.
More beetroot recipes
Beetroot gratin, thinly sliced beets baked in garlic and dill infused cream, a gorgeous side to a fish course. No need to pre-cook the beetroot.
Roasted beetroot casserole with honey, thyme and balsamic. Cooking fresh beetroot can't be easier: as long as possible and with gutsy flavours. My balsamic thyme beetroot is a great vegetarian dish, best served with rice or lentils.
Roasted beetroot salad with preserved lemons and tahini flavoured yoghurt has all the hallmarks of an Ottolenghi recipe and rightly so: it comes from the 'Simple' cookbook.
More buttered vegetable side recipes
Buttered cabbage, a delicious side dish prepared in the easiest way possible. Pack the shredded, seasoned hispi (sweetheart) cabbage into a saucepan, cover with a lid and cook on medium heat, hands off. And it works with other cabbage varieties too!
How to cook spinach? Simply, with lots of butter and thinly sliced garlic. Buttered spinach is a perfect side dish, healthy and ready in minutes.
Garlicky runner beans with butter and Parmesan, unexpectedly delicious for such a humble bean. The best way to cook runner beans is to blanch them for 5 minutes, until just tender, then toss in butter and Parmesan.