I was in Greece last week, where the temperatures topped 32°C and it was impossible to think about moving from the shade until 6pm. Any time spent in the kitchen preparing food had to be brief and undemanding, requiring as little additional heat as possible. Cooking big meals was the last thing on anyone’s mind. I was staying with an old friend who was shortly heading back home to New Zealand and the challenge was to use up as much of the food as possible that she had left from her stay. One evening I was tasked with making a dish for a small dinner party of locals.
Felicity pointed me towards a bunch of island grown beetroot, a couple of red onions and a handful of mint that had seen better days and said, ‘Can you make something with that, darling?’. There were oranges and lemons in the fruit bowl, a well-stocked spice cupboard and a huge tub of Greek yogurt in the fridge. I started to think about how to combine them. Given our location it would have been easy to have made a simple knee jerk salad with yogurt and walnuts or olives and feta, but I cast around for a different approach. For less predictable Mediterranean flavours.
Beetroot and onion are common bedfellows. My maternal grandmother would make a summer salad of homegrown beetroot with white onions. These were thickly sliced and put into a Pyrex bowl to soak in malt vinegar with a spoonful of sugar. The onions turned a bright shade of fuchsia pink in the beetroots’ pickling juices, which for me was one of its primary attractions. We would eat this with thick slices of cold boiled ham and buttered, minted new potatoes. The next day any beetroot leftovers went into sandwiches for the beach with slices of hard-boiled egg and Heinz Salad Cream. On the beach I would carefully lay a handful of cheese and onion crisps beneath the top slice of bread, revelling in the salty, cheesy crunch against the softness of the filling. In that hot Greek kitchen I thought about making some quick pickled onions to offset the sweetness of the beets.
Our onions are later than usual this year. I usually plant onions sets out in late March. These are heat treated to prevent bolting, but I have had issues with them bolting in the last couple of years and then not keeping well, so wanted to try growing them from seed which is supposed to make a difference. I sowed the seeds in modules – 4 to 6 seeds to a module – in early February and started them off in the heated propagator. Within a week or so the first hairlike leaves appeared, when I moved them to a sunny windowsill to grow on. Once they reached 10 to 15cm in height they went to the outdoor coldframe to harden off for a week before planting them out in late April. Due to this later start these onions will not be fully ready to harvest until August, but some of them are already just large enough to pull if needed and are sweeter for being smaller.
The salad started to come together in my mind. Quick pickled onions made into a raita with fresh mint and Greek yogurt, the beets quickly dressed in olive oil and orange juice – another classic beet pairing – with some warming spices. I used the rather wan fresh mint in the raita, but having dried a surfeit of our own mint last year I found that this gives a more authentic flavour, so used fresh mint as a garnish. Both the beetroot and raita can be prepared in advance and are improved by resting for a short while before eating. If really hot this salad is particularly good lightly chilled from the fridge.
Last week we ate this with a couple of slices of pan fried halloumi which, as today’s temperatures approach those in Greece, is exactly what we will be having for dinner this evening. It is too hot to think of anything else.
Serves 4 as a main or 6 as one of a selection of mixed plates
1kg beetroot
Dressing
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
Juice and zest of half an orange
2 tablespoons olive oil
Raita
2 small red onions (approx. 280g), finely sliced into half moons
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried mint, crushed
8-10 tablespoons Greek yogurt
11/2 teaspoons nigella seed
3 cloves garlic
Olive oil
To Decorate
Some small mint leaves
A few edible flowers (nasturtium, marigold, hemerocallis, chive, borage), petals picked
Boil the beetroot whole until tender to the point of a knife. This should take 30 to 40 minutes depending on the size and age of the beetroot. Leave to cool, then slip the skins off in a bowl of cold water. Leave to drain, then cut into bite size pieces.
Heat a small frying pan and toast the cumin and coriander seeds and chilli flakes until fragrant. Crush coarsely in a mortar then transfer to a bowl large enough to take the beetroot. Add the remaining dressing ingredients, season with salt and black pepper, mix well and add the beetroot. Stir gently to coat. Leave to stand.
Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a small frying pan. Peel, trim and finely slice the garlic lengthways and fry until golden brown. Quickly remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
While the beetroot are cooking, mix the onion with the vinegar, salt and dried mint. Leave to stand for 30 minutes or longer. Stir every now and then to ensure all of the onion comes into contact with the vinegar. The onion will soften and become slightly translucent.
Drain and retain any excess vinegar from the onion, then mix in the yogurt and one teaspoon of nigella seed. You may need to add some or all of the vinegar back in to attain a loose, spoonable consistency. If it is still a little stiff let it down with a spoonful of water.
Arrange the beetroot around the outside of a serving dish. Pile the raita in the centre and scatter over the remaining half teaspoon of nigella seed. Strew the edible flower petals, mint leaves and garlic slices over the beetroot.
Recipe & photographs: Huw Morgan
Published 20 July 2024
