Recipes

This recipe for roasted sweet beetroot relish comes from River Cottage Preserves by Pam Corbin. She writes "I love the sweet earthy flavour of beetroot and I hate to see it swamped in strong-tasting vinegar, as so often happens. This light preserve is quite a different proposition: roasting the young roots really concentrates their robust flavour, while the sharp pungency of horseradish adds a liveliness to the sweet beet."

Makes 5 x 225g jars

    1kg young small beetroot, trimmed
    A little olive oil
    250g granulated sugar
    150ml red wine vinegar
    2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
    1 large red onion, peeled and finely chopped
    50g freshly grated horseradish

For the Roasted tomato puree

    1kg tomatoes
    2 level tsp sea salt
    4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
    50ml olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C. For the tomato puree, halve the tomatoes and place them skin side down on a baking tray. Sprinkle with the salt, garlic and olive oil. Roast for an hour or so on the bottom shelf of the oven, then remove. Rub through a sieve or pass through a mouli or food mill to remove the skins and pips - you'll end up with about 300ml of intensely flavoured puree.

Meanwhile put the beetroot into a baking dish and trickle with a little oil. Roast above the tomatoes for 1-1 1/2 hours (longer if necessary) until the skins are blistered, blackened and loosened. Leave to cool a little before peeling. You'll find the skins will slide off easily. Coarsely grate the beetroot (a food processor makes this easier).

Put the sugar, vinegars, onion and horseradish into a large saucepan, bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato puree and cook for a couple more minutes. Finally add the grated beetroot and cook for about 10 minutes until thickened. Transfer to sterilised jars and seal with vinegar-proof lids. Use within a year and refrigerate once opened.