Beety McBeety Face

It was Thursday, it was the end of March, the sun was now shining and it was the first non-working day I'd allowed myself to take as holiday from the day job since the second day in January. Having enjoyed a warm and wet morning walk in a quiet village near the Derbyshire Dales, which evoked strong memories of a formative job in my past, and late Mother's Day Coffee; thoughts turned to what I was going to do with the bunch of Beetroot lying on my chopping board.

Although it is tricky to prepare fresh Beetroot, largely because it stains everything that it touches a deep purple, it's much better for you than buying the pre-prepared version and fresh Beetroot is considered something of a superfood. You can do a few things with Beetroot ranging from using it as an adjunct to a salad, blending with lots of other fresh ingredients in a juicer, making delicious and colourful soup, to having it as a filling to a tart.

One other option, which is the one I chose to follow, is to make a risotto with it. The ingredients were as follows:

4 Beetroot- topped, tailed, peeled and cubed.
4 Shallots- thinly sliced.
2 Garlic Cloves- finely sliced.
5 Ounces of Walnuts.
1 tablespoon of dried Thyme, Oregano, Sage and Rosemary.
1 tube of Goat's Cheese.
1/3 of a pint of water.
1/3 of a pint of Red Wine.
10 ounces of Risotto Rice.

For some reason it had been a day of memories of previous roles and the interesting and eclectic individuals I'd met in them. This informed the music that I chose to listen to as I chose Camel's superb 1996 concept album Harbour of Tears the story of which concentrates on guitarist, and de facto owner of the Camel name, Andy Latimer's Irish and American ancestry. Despite the personal theme the record is constantly rewarding with Latimer and lyricist Susan Hoover showing the ability to tell an interesting story while making engaging music. Highlights include the folk/prog-rock "Watching the Bobbins" and the wistful "Send Home the Slates". The album was one an old colleague of mine enjoyed after I'd introduced it to him shortly before I stopped working with him.

The first job of preparing the Beetroot had been done earlier in the day as after I'd cubed it I'd boiled it for around forty minutes to make it soft enough for use in the Risotto.

Then taking my Le Cresceut I added some Sunflower Oil to the bottom of it and fried the Garlic and Shallots on a medium heat for twenty minutes. Then I added the Rice and Walnuts and stirred them for two minutes.

Next I added the Red Wine and continued to stir the ingredients until most of the Red Wine had been absorbed by them. This took about eighteen minutes For this Risotto I used a Sauvignon Blanc that did the job well. I also took the opportunity to add the Thyme, Oregano, Sage and Rosemary.

After that I poured in the Beetroot pieces and the 1/3 of a pint of water I'd earlier boiled them in. Now came the trickiest task in making the Risotto; keeping stirring in the water while ensuring the Risotto didn't dry up but wasn't too runny either. I managed this by stirring it on a medium heat for about forty minutes.

After forty minutes I thought enough water had been absorbed to add all but one slice the Goat's Cheese. Once this had fully melted and been stirred in I served the Risotto and topped my helping with the spare slice of Goat's Cheese and a Walnut.

The Red Wine gave this dish a very rich taste which was accentuated by the Goat's Cheese. However the nutritious and earthy tasting Beetroot ensured it wasn't too sickly a dish and the overall taste reminded me why it is important to have fresh Beetroot in a healthy diet.

Shades of deep purple were offset against a slice of Goats Cheese and lone Walnut when this was served.