I’m on a mission to stop wasting food, which is no mean feat in our house given our obsession with cooking. This mostly involves tackling recipes that suddenly take our fancy, as distinct from cooking what’s already in the fridge. I’m not as ascetic about this as my mother - her fridge is littered with single broccoli florets and scrag-ends of tomatoes that she intends to turn into something delicious later (!) - and I’ve no plans to start stewing carrot tops. But the amount of good things that go bad before we use them is shameful.
To this end, after baking a fabulous Beetroot and Hazelnut Cake earlier, I determined to cook our supper with the unused beetroot. So what? So what indeed for beetroot lovers, but a big what for my husband who says he’d rather eat dirt. However, having already cured him of pescaphobia (is this a word?), I thought it was worth a stab - and it was. In fact, he cured himself - with Stilton.
First up, I roasted three whole beetroots in foil, together with some thyme, cumin, garlic, lots of salt and pepper, and a little oil, for about two hours until really tender. I then fried up a sofrito of onions, carrots, celery, and smoked lardons. I threw in some brown lentils and lots of leftover fresh herbs from Christmas, and stewed it all together with chicken stock.
Bill Granger does a delicious beetroot salad with goat’s curd and lentils, but as goat’s curd is not exactly common currency in our neighbourhood, my husband suggested the leftover Christmas Stilton instead. This idea just seemed a bit wrong at first, but once the Stilton was crumbled over the beetroot on its nest of herby lentils, accompanied by some green leaf, it made perfect sense.
In fact, I would go so far as to opt for Mark Hix’s more minimalist approach and just serve roasted beetroot, leaf and walnuts, with our addition of crumbled Stilton and a little dressing. The lentils are delicious, but a dish on their own.
Beetroot like this is a different beast to the beetroot I ate as a child in Australia – the sliced canned stuff preserved in vinegar, served on a Hamburger with the Lot. I am fairly confident my husband would pick that stuff out of his burger and feed it to the seagulls, but with the addition of Stilton, he’s converted.
