Whole Mackerel on Balsamic and Thyme-Roasted Beetroot, with Sauteed Beet Leaves

Here's my last beetroot recipe for the Valentine's day line-up, this time a main course, not just a starter or side. This is a true celebration of the whole beet! Did you know it's not only the beetroot you can eat? You can eat the beet leaves too, it's actually related to the chard, which I love. Also, I want to take this opportunity to show you how you can work with more than just salmon fillets, but the whole fish. Mackerel is a wonderful oily fish that's rich in the same omega 3 fatty acids as salmon, and tastes amazing, but for a fraction of the price of salmon.

Whole Mackerel on Balsamic and Thyme Roasted Beetroot

serves 2

Ingredients

2 small/medium-sized mackerels, gutted but leave the heads and tails intact. (Nothing's wrong with your eyes, I only used 1 mackerel, because it was just for me)

2 small beetroots, peeled and chopped into large chunks (actually on second thought, if you slice it into nice circles, you can do a more classy presentation!)

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

sea salt, black pepper

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees celsius.

2. Toss the chopped beetroot with the balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp of evoo and 1 tbsp of thyme leaves. Roast for 20-25 minutes, till beetroot caramelises on the surface, but the inside is not totally soft.

3. Season the mackerels well with sea salt and pepper (esp the cavity), and tuck 1 sprig of thyme into the cavity of each mackerel.

4. Place the mackerel on top of the beetroot, and return to the oven for another 20 minutes, till the flesh is opaque, and the skin gets crispy. (You can turn the heat up, and change to "broil" for the last 5 min to get that charred effect if you want!)

5. Pour a tiny bit hot water just to deglaze the roasting dish and get the caramalised balsamic-beetroot juices off.

Simple Beet Leaves Saute

This is done in the same way as my Two-Kale Stir-fry, which is the no-fuss method I use on most greens when I just want a simple side.

Ingredients

Bunch of beet leaves from the 2 beets

2 cloves garlic

1/2 small onion

2 tsp of extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp butter

a little balsamic vinegar (instead of lemon, so the whole dish is more harmonious)

sea salt, pepper (to taste)

Method

1. Remove the stalks from the beet leaves. These are harder and take longer to cook.

2. Melt butter with the 11/2 tsp of evoo over medium-high heat, in a large frying pan.

3. Fry the garlic and onion till golden/translucent, not browned.

4. Add the beet stalks first, turn up the heat, then add a splash of water (which quickly turns to steam) and the salt and pepper. 2-3 min later, add the beet leaves.

5. After the beet leaves have wilted and all the liquid is absorbed, remove from heat, add the extra tsp of evoo, and balsamic vinegar. Mix well and serve!

Serve the sauteed beet leaves with the roast mackerel and beetroot, drizzling the beet/balsamic roasting juices over, and sprinkling a few fresh thyme (leaves only) over. A fish cooked whole has has a more moist, flaky flesh, and it looks so impressive on the plate, don't you think? Or maybe it's just me. If you're worried about the head scaring your date off, you could always behead the fish I guess.

This entry is part of Tuesday Twister and Real Food Wednesday.

Traditional Beetroot Soup (Borscht)

After that very stylish pink soup, here's a more traditional non-creamy beetroot soup, where the beetroot is left in rustic chunks, in its lovely sweet red juices. Borscht is a soup very commonly found in many Eastern European countries, and there are so many ways of preparing it depending on region, but you can never really go wrong with this sweet and beautiful root vegetable.

Beetroot Soup (Borscht)

Ingredients

1 medium onion, sliced

1 large beetroot, chopped

1 small carrot, chopped

1 small tomato, chopped

1/4 cup homemade stock (I used chicken. traditionally, it's beef stock)

1 bay leaf

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

(opt) 1 tsp red wine vinegar/apple cider vinegar

To serve

1 tbsp plain yogurt

fresh dill

Ingredients

1. Saute the onions in the evoo till translucent.

2. Add the rest of the ingredient, bring to a boil and let simmer for 45 min.

3. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and fresh dill. (chives will work too)

This ruby-coloured soup is just bursting with sweetness, and earthy flavours, balanced by that sharp tang of the yogurt and the freshness of dill. Its clean yet hearty flavours are perfect for winter, plus, again, isn't it nice to see something bright and colourful when it's grey outside? Boo london skies.

This is part of Dr. Laura's Tasty Tuesdays, Seasonal Sundays and Hearth and Soul Hop Volume 35.

A Very Pink Beetroot Gazpacho

How gay can soup get? This brilliant pink cold soup would be a perfectly kitsch starter for Valentine's day. I also just found out it's an aphrodisiac for the Romans, and a symbol of love for the pagans ;) You might be wondering about that unnatural pink, but it's totally natural-- it's beetroot! Art lesson: red beetroot + white yogurt = pink soup.

Beetroot stains everything it touches red-- the chopping board, the knife, my hands..

This gazpacho is inspired by the Polish borscht, usually served cold on a summer's day, so even if you don't want a showy pink starter for Valentine's day, keep this recipe in store for the upcoming (I can always hope) spring/summer! Instead of just boiling the beetroot as in most recipes I've seen, I roasted them for even more concentrated sweetness.

Pink Beetroot Gazpacho

serves 2-3

Ingredients

1 tennis-ball sized beetroot, skin-on, washed

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

400 ml natural plain yogurt (adjust to get the right colour/consistency)

water

To serve

1 tbsp chopped chives

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Toss the beetroot with the evoo and thyme, and place in the oven. Roast for about 1h, or till the inside is tender when pierced.

3. Peel off the skin, chop the beetroot up, and add to the blender with the yogurt and a bit of water till you get the desired consistency.

4. Serve with the chopped chives scattered in the centre!

Or to go all out kitsch, you can save some red beetroot puree and use that to draw a heart ;)

I'm in a bit of a beetroot mood in the lead-up to a lonely Valentine's day, so bear with the upcoming spammage of beetroot recipes hehe.

Beetroot, Ginger & Chocolate Risotto

You learn something new every day, or so the saying goes. Did you know, for example, that the first meal that was eaten on the moon by Armstrong and Aldrin was a roast turkey dinner with all the trimmings (freeze dried, one would assume)?

Or that sperm swim faster after they have been exposed to caffeine?

Or that the largest beetroot ever grown was over 18 feet in length?

Or that it is near impossible to take a good photo of a risotto? Especially a risotto that I promised you good people a couple of weeks ago (you'd thought I'd forgotten, hadn't you?)

It’s true – no matter how appealing it may look on the plate, in photographic form it will almost always take on the appearance of lumpy aardvark vomit.

You could gild it with gold leaf, adorn it with asparagus and top it with truffles but under the lights and through a lens it will still look about as appealing as a jock strap salad.

We tried. We really did. But even the best photo we got wouldn’t have looked out of place in a crime scene report. So you’ll have to make do with this representation instead. And the best thing about beetroot risotto is the colour anyway. So sit back, use your imagination and take note. Recipe below.



It’s hard to write a definitive recipe for risotto. There are so many variations (rice absorbency, stock quality, stirring capacity) that I hesitate to make any assertions for fear I will end up with angry emails and comments.

Instead, use this as a platform, a launch pad, or a mere eyebrow-raiser. All I will say is that it is certainly worth trying and that there is true deliciousness hidden behind the vaguely bizarre veneer of the combination of ingredients.


The Ingredients – should serve four

Olive oil or butter (about 25g)
A pinch of bicarbonate of soda
A small onion, or three/four shallots finely chopped
Two cloves of garlic, finely chopped
A teaspoon of grated ginger
Four or five small beetroot, roasted in the skins (in a sealed foil package for about an hour), peeled and diced into teeny, tiny pieces.
Risotto rice (Arborio, carnaroli, vialone nano) – about 250g
A small glass of white wine or white vermouth
Chicken or vegetable Stock (impossible to say how much you will need but most likely about a litre), in a pan on a gentle heat.
The darkest dark chocolate you can find, preferably 70%+ cocoa solids

The method
You all know how to make risotto, right? You’re going to find this incredibly patronising if you are talked through each step in the manner of a sports teacher humiliating the fat kid aren’t you? Oh well, here goes:

Put the onion and garlic in a large, heavy bottomed pan along with the olive oil or butter. Turn on the heat (low – see here for why) and add the bicarb (this helps soften the onion and bring out the flavours. I learnt why here). Fry gently for 10 minutes, or until you have a delicious pulpy mass of onion and garlic. Add the ginger and stir.

Crank up the heat. Pour in the rice, stir and cook off for about a minute to start it toasting. Add the wine or vermouth. It should sizzle and give off a fairly potent steam of near pure alcohol. Stir again (can you see a theme developing?). Tip in the beetroot. Admire the colour. Go on, you know you want to. Stir.

The stock (which is in a pan on a gentle heat, right?) can now be ladled in bit by bit. Stir. Stir some more. When almost all the stock has been absorbed add another ladle full. Stir. Keep stirring.

Repeat the above until the rice is cooked – usually about forty minutes. By this point your arm will aching and you should have worked up a considerable appetite with all that stirring.

Spoon onto a plate, grate the chocolate over the top. Admire the colour once more and eat.

One final point – risotto should be soft, it should spread evenly and slowly over the plate like a slew of molten lava running down a volcano. You shouldn’t be able to slice it.

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