I have long been an admirer of the girls from the Monday Morning Cooking Club (see here) and have all of their recipe books (they make great gifts).

In their latest book “It’s All About Food” I loved the idea of a recipe for Beetroot Confit (page 156), and as I was in the process of fine tuning a recipe for White Bean and Sweet Potato Patties (see here) I knew in my heart that a beetroot relish would go fabulously with them so hence my decision to play with the recipe.

You will need 3 to 4 large beetroots for this, and to be honest I never wear gloves when peeling beetroot as I am clumsy with them on, and I find the red colour quickly removes itself from my skin as I am continually washing one thing or another.

In this recipe it is important to start cooking the relish on a lower heat to cook out the beetroot as you want the relish to have some “chew” but not for it to be hard and crunchy.  So you will find in the method that there are three degrees of cooking:  90 degrees to start with, then 100 degrees to finish off cooking the beetroot, and finally Veroma to reduce the liquid to make the mixture into a relish.

You should get 80g of juice from an orange, unless it is a tad old in which case it may be dry … so if this is the case you will need to use a second orange but it is important to get 80g of juice.  Just make sure you zest the orange first before juicing as you won’t be able to do it otherwise.

This relish is fantastic with the patties, but it is great with just about anything … wonderful with cheese, great on avocado, in sandwiches, etc.  You are only limited by your imagination.  And although I suggest the relish will keep for two weeks in the fridge, if you have any left at that time it can be added to a bolognaise sauce so that nothing is wasted (amazing!).

I like to add the salt at the end of the cooking time to ensure that the relish is not over-seasoned due to the evaporation of the liquid.

If you don’t have any dry sherry you can use Chinese Cooking Wine … you won’t get quite the depth of flavour sherry will give you but it is a good substitute.

Beetroot Relish

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

50 mins

Total time

1 hour

 

Finished relish ready to eat!

You will need 3 to 4 large beetroots for this, and to be honest I never wear gloves when peeling beetroot as I am clumsy with them on, and I find the red colour quickly removes itself from my skin as I am continually washing one thing or another.

In this recipe it is important to start cooking the relish on a lower heat to cook out the beetroot as you want the relish to have some "chew" but not for it to be hard and crunchy. So you will find in the method that there are three degrees of cooking: 90 degrees to start with, then 100 degrees to finish off cooking the beetroot, and finally Veroma to reduce the liquid to make the mixture into a relish.

You should get 80g of juice from an orange, unless it is a tad old in which case it may be dry ... so if this is the case you will need to use a second orange but it is important to get 80g of juice. Just make sure you zest the orange first before juicing as you won't be able to do it otherwise.

This relish is fantastic with the patties, but it is great with just about anything ... wonderful with cheese, great on avocado, in sandwiches, etc. You are only limited by your imagination. And although I suggest the relish will keep for two weeks in the fridge, if you have any left at that time it can be added to a bolognaise sauce so that nothing is wasted (amazing!).

I like to add the salt at the end of the cooking time to ensure that the relish is not over-seasoned due to the evaporation of the liquid.

If you don't have any dry sherry you can use Chinese Cooking Wine ... you won't get quite the depth of flavour sherry will give you but it is a good substitute.

Author: Gina @ The Passionate Pantry

Serves: 3 cups

Ingredients

• 450g beetroot, peeled weight, cut into quarters
  
  
• 1 red onion, cut into quarters
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 60g olive oil
  
  
• 100g light muscovado sugar, or brown sugar
• 100g dried cranberries
• Zest of 1 orange
• 80g orange juice
• 60g balsamic vinegar
• 60g dry sherry
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  
  
• 2 tsp sea salt flakes, or 1 tsp fine sea salt

Instructions

1. Place beetroot into TM bowl and chop 4 seconds / speed 5, put aside, do not clean TM bowl
2. Place onion, garlic and olive oil to TM bowl and chop 5 seconds / speed 5
3. Scrape around bowl and sauté 10 minutes / Veroma / speed 1 / no MC / basket on top (you want the steam to escape)
4. Return beetroot to TM bowl along with the rest of the ingredients except the salt and cook 20 minutes / 90 / reverse / speed 1/ MC on
5. Scrape around bowl and cook a further 15 minutes / 100 / reverse / speed 1 / MC on
6. Check the beetroot … it will still be a little firm but not crunchy … we will now start to reduce the liquid to make it into a relish consistency
7. Cook 5 minutes / Veroma / reverse / speed 1 / no MC / basket on top
8. Pour relish into a bowl and allow to cool before serving / storing
9. Will keep in fridge for up to two weeks

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