When a favourite restaurant publishes a cookbook, I'll often buy the whole book just to get my hands on the recipe for one dish. The sugar-cured prawn omelette from The Modern Pantry is a very good example; likewise, when Morito's book came out earlier this year, I went straight to the object of my desire: beetroot borani.
It's a simple dish – just cooked beetroot, roughly blitzed and stirred through with garlic, yoghurt and red-wine vinegar, then dotted with chunks of feta, fresh dill, black onion seeds and toasted walnuts – but I'm tickled pink to be able to play with the real deal and eat the result by the bucket-load. The dish works so well that it could be a sort of master recipe to showcase how many things earthy beetroots are happy to be paired with: the sharp vinegar, salty feta, creamy, smooth yoghurt, fresh, soft dill and warm, toasted nuts.
For me, though, what colours the beet experience most is this root's profoundly deep red, which is unparalleled in the vegetable kingdom. It informs our experience in much the same way as colour affects our appreciation of chocolate, say: it is simply inconceivable that it would be any other colour. And even though I'vecome across pink chocolates (much to my dismay) and different coloured beets (much to my delight), it is that iconic red – the colour of both a smooth, velvety Polish borscht, and of Morito's seminal borani – that leaves a brilliantly sweet taste in my mouth.
Lemony beetroot and peach salad
A mix of golden and red beetroot looks great, but using just red is absolutely fine. Serves four.
1 lemon, skin shaved off in one longpiece
60ml olive oil
4 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp honey
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest, plus 1tbsp lemon juice
Salt
8 medium beetroot, stalks trimmed (amixture of red and golden, or all red)
2 ripe peaches, stoned and cut into 1cmwedges
75g rindless soft goat's cheese
1½ tsp aniseed, toasted and roughly crushed (or fennel seed)
5g picked purple (or green) basil leaves, larger leaves torn
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Put the lemon peel in a small saucepan with the olive oil. Bring to a simmer on a medium heat, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Lift out the peel, discard half and pat dry the other half, then cut into long thin strips. Set aside.
Put the infused oil in a small bowl and whisk in the vinegar, honey, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice and half a teaspoon salt. Set aside.
Wrap the beetroot individually in aluminium foil, place on a baking tray and roast for 45 minutes, or until cooked through (the cooking time varies a lot, so insert a small knife into a beet to check that it is cooked: it should go in with little resistance). Remove and set aside for 10 minutes, then remove the foil and peel the beets while they are still warm (wear plastic gloves or they will stain your hands). Cut the beets into 1cm-wide wedges and, if using both, keep the red and golden beetroot in separate bowls and pour half the dressing over each batch (otherwise, put all the beets and dressing in one bowl).
Layer the beetroot on a large platter, along with the peach. Try not to mix everything together too much, otherwise the red beetroot will bleed. Dot with the cheese, sprinkle over the aniseed and basil, finish with the reserved lemon strips and serve.
Fried aubergine and beetroot with coconut and curry leaves
This is somewhere between a salad and a condiment. You can eat it by itself, but it will only truly transport you to a warm Indian beach when served as part of a larger spread: somecoconutdal, steamed rice and crisp fried fish work very well alongside. Serves four.
2 medium aubergines, trimmed and cutinto 3cm dice
Salt
3 medium beetroot, peeled and cut into2cm dice
150ml vegetable oil
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
4cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 tsp black mustard seeds
4 sprigs curry leaves
5 small dried red chillies (medium heat)
50g fresh coconut (ie, the flesh from ½ a small coconut), finely grated
1 tbsp lime juice
10g coriander, roughly chopped
Put the aubergine in a colander, sprinkle over half teaspoon of salt and mix. Set aside over a bowl for half an hour, then pat dry with kitchen paper.
Fill a large saute pan with 500ml water and put on a medium-high heat. Add the beetroot and simmer, uncovered, for 12-15 minutes, until the beets have cooked through and the water has evaporated. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Wipe clean the pan, and heat the oil on a high heat. Add half the diced aubergine, fry for seven to eight minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, so the aubergine goes golden-brown all over. With a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper and repeat with the remaining aubergine.
Carefully pour away all but a tablespoon and a half of the oil and lower the heat to medium. Add the onion, ginger, mustard seeds, curry leaves, chillies and half a teaspoon salt, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the onion is soft and golden-brown. Add the beetroot and coconut to the pan, cook for four minutes, then remove from the heat and stir through the aubergine, lime juice and coriander. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Beef meatballs in beetroot and celery soup
Serve this with some crusty white bread to soak up the juices, and you have a great evening meal. The bones bring a great depth of flavour to the soup, but if you want to do without, add 500ml each of beef (or chicken) stock and 500ml of water, instead of the litre of water listed. This soup is more delicious a day or two after it is made. Serves six.
2 beef or veal stock bones
60ml olive oil
1 medium red onion, peeled and cut into 5mm dice
5 large sticks celery, thinly sliced, plus the leaves (if there are any), picked
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
4 medium beetroot, peeled and sliced into 2cm cubes
1 lemon, skin shaved off in one long piece
2 tsp caster sugar
3 bay leaves
500ml chicken stock
Salt and black pepper
60ml lemon juice
10g tarragon, roughly chopped
For the meatballs
500g minced beef
1 small onion, peeled and grated
100g fresh white breadcrumbs
20g parsley, chopped
1 tbsp baharat spice mix
2 tbsp dried mint
Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Put the bones in a small baking tray and roast for 40 minutes, until golden-brown. Remove and set aside.
Put all the meatball ingredients in a medium bowl with three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Mix to combine, then form into 4cm wide balls weighing about 35g each: you'll end up with 20 or so.
Put a large frying pan on a medium-high heat with two tablespoons of the oil. Once hot, add the meatballs and fry, turning regularly, for six to seven minutes, until golden-brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Put a large saucepan on a medium-high heat with the remaining olive oil and, once hot, add the onion and celery (and its leaves, if using). Fry for eight to 10 minutes, stirring every two minutes, until softened and just starting to caramelise. Add the garlic, cook for two minutes, then add the beetroot. Cook for two minutes, then add the bones, lemon skin, sugar, bay, celery leaves, if using, stock and a litre of water. Stir well, turn the heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes.
Lift out and discard the bones, lemon skin, bay leaves and celery leaves (if using). Add the meatballs tothe broth with half a teaspoon of salt and the lemon juice, and simmer for 10 minutes, until the meatballs are just cooked. Serve at once, with tarragon sprinkled on top.
Yotam Ottolenghi is chef/patron of Ottolenghi and Nopi in London.
His new book, Plenty More, is published by Ebury at £27. To order a copy for £17, go to theguardian.com/bookshop.
Follow Yotam on Twitter.
