This week was only a small shop as we have lots going on this week, it came to just under £18 mainly due to my berry splurge. Note the incredibly impressive spring onions, I couldn’t leave them behind.
Beetroot never appealed to me as a child, perhaps because it always came to me in the pickled vacuum packed variety, nothing wrong with that but I hated anything pickled a condition I am slowly growing out of.
There are so many uses for beetroot and we buy it most weeks so this week I’m just going to focus on its uses in sweet things.
As I’ve said before I prefer my sweet treats not to be overloaded with sugar, I dislike things too sickly sweet and we could all do with a little less sugar in our lives. Therefore the earthy roundness that beetroots bring to deserts (as well as their impressive colour) is welcome.
For the following recipe I suggest using the common purple variety, save the yellow, striped and fancy beetroot for an impressive salad. The purple hues really add to this dish (however if you are trying to hide veg in kids food, the golden beetroot would be near invisible in this recipe). On a rainy, “it’s supposed to be July!” kind of day toasted slices of this loaf went down very well with a mug of tea,
Beetroot Tea Loaf
Inspired by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall in his Vegetable cookbook.
- 150g of light demerara sugar
- 4 eggs – separated
- 250g of beetroots pre-peeling.
- Zest and half the juice of 1 orange.
- 100g of raisins
- 100g of ground almonds
- 100g of walnuts
- 200g of buckwheat
- ½ tsp of bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp of baking powder
- 1 tsp of cinnamon.
I have used buckwheat flour as it has the advantages of higher levels of protein, fibre and minerals as well as making this tea loaf gluten free however this recipe will work if replaced with plain flour.
Line a loaf tin are preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Peel, top, tail and grate the beetroot.
In a large bowel whisk the sugar into the egg yolks until light and fluffy.
Stir in all the remaining ingredients except the egg whites. At this point the mixture will be Barbie pink – don’t panic, the colour tones down in cooking.
Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks and gently fold the whites into the main mixture until just combined.
Pour the mixture into your lined loaf tin and bake for 45-50 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tin before transferring to a cooling rack.
Best eaten warm from the oven or toasted with some good quality butter.
This recipe also freezes well, I sliced the loaf and put this slices into a large freezer bag, ready to toast from frozen.
Other Sweet Suggestions for Beetroot
- Quickly becoming a modern classic –Nigella’s chocolate beetroot cake.
- Add to smoothies/juices – I like making one with beetroot, wheatgrass and frozen cherries.
- I have a feeling you could make an amazing beetroot fudge but not quite achieved it yet – watch this space!
Fruits, Roots & Shoots 
