A recipe from The Great Dixter Cookbook by Aaron Bertelsen. This is wonderful on its own or with a good roast chicken. Do try to hunt down some decent parmesan — it is worth the effort.
Ingredients
| 1 Tbsp | Butter, for greasing |
| 7 | Beetroot, golf-ball-size, and raw (Main) |
| 1 tsp | Dill leaves, finely chopped |
| 4 Tbsp | Cream |
| 2 Tbsp | Grated parmesan cheese (Main) |
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 150C. Butter a 25cm diameter baking dish.
- Twist the leaves off the beetroots but leave the long roots attached. Gently wash off any soil, then place the beetroots on a double thickness of aluminium foil and wrap loosely. Put the parcel on a baking sheet and bake for about 2 hours, or until the beetroots are tender all the way through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then cut off the roots and tops and peel off the skin.
- Increase the oven temperature to 200C. Slice the beetroots about 5 mm thick and arrange the slices in the prepared dish. Whisk the chopped dill into the cream in a small bowl and spoon it evenly over the beetroot. Sprinkle with the parmesan and a good grinding of black pepper. Put the dish back in the oven and bake for a further 15 minutes or so until everything is heated through and the parmesan is starting to brown.
GARDEN NOTES
Beetroot
Beetroot is incredibly easy to grow. The only