Beetroot, goats cheese and walnut salad

One of the most useful things you can have in your cupboard at the moment is vac packed cooked beetroot which you can buy in the fresh section of most supermarkets. Fortunately it doesn’t look that appealing so there hasn’t been a run on it despite the fact it’s relatively inexpensive (90p in my local Co-op).

You can use it to make a salad, as I’ve done here and, with the same ingredients, turn it into a dip. Or a borscht if you’re so minded (which would create a use for the liquid in the pack though you would obviously need to add stock too.)

In terms of ingredients - and this applies to all the recipes I’m posting at the moment - just remember you can always substitute whatever you’ve got. You could make this salad with ANY crumbly white cheese - or blue cheese come to that. And substitute hazelnuts for walnuts - or some chunky crusty croutons if you haven’t got or are allergic to nuts.

Beetroot, goats cheese and walnut salad for 1

25g or so of walnut pieces or toasted hazelnuts

Half a 250g pack of cooked beetroot

40-50g hard goats cheese, feta or other white crumbly cheese

A handful of rocket or other salad leaves

2 tbsp salad dressing (see below)

A few chives if you have them

A few grinds of black pepper if you're a bit of a pepper fiend

If you have the oven on for something else pop the walnuts in for 3-4 minutes to refresh them otherwise toast them for a couple of minutes in a dry pan. Remove one or two of the beets from the pack and break roughly into pieces with a teaspoon. (Just looks a bit nicer and more natural than cubing them.) Crumble the cheese with a fork. Arrange the leaves on a plate, arrange the beetroot pieces on top and spoon over half the dressing. Scatter the cheese and nuts over the top and spoon over the remaining dressing. Grind over some cracked black pepper (why the plate is looking so messy) and sprinkle over a few snipped chives.

For the dressing

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 dessertspoon red or white wine vinegar

3-4 dessertspoons of olive oil

Salt and pepper

Put the mustard in a jam jar with the vinegar, 3 dessertspoons of the olive oil and salt and pepper and shake vigorously. Add a little more oil if you find it too sharp.

Beetroot, goat cheese and yoghurt dip

Serves 2-4 depending what else you’ve got on the table

Half a 250g pack of cooked beetroot

40g hard goats cheese or feta, cubed

1 small clove of garlic crushed or a pinch of garlic granules (optional)

1/4-1/2 tsp ground cumin

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp natural unsweetened yoghurt or kefir

Salt

Chop the beets roughly, put in a food processor or blender and pulse a few times to break up. Add the cubed cheese, garlic, if using, cumin and salt and whizz into a thick purée. Trickle in the oil while the motor is running as if you were making mayonnaise then add the yoghurt and briefly pulse. Tip into a bowl and serve with pitta, flatbread or crackers.

What to drink: Partly because of the goats cheese but sauvignon blanc goes really well with both of these. For other suggestions see

The best wines to pair with beetroot

Carrot and beetroot borscht

New year tends to mean two things - frugal living and healthy eating - and this recipe my eldest daughter Jo devised when she was a student ticks both boxes. Best, of course, with organic veg if you can get hold of them.

Serves 4

3 tbsp organic sunflower or organic rapeseed oil
4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, finely chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 medium carrots (about 175-200g), well scrubbed or peeled and grated
3 medium beetroot (about 300-350g), peeled
1 fresh tomato, skinned and roughly chopped (optional but good)
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
750ml vegetable stock mixed with about 1/2 tsp brown miso or, at a pinch, Marmite
a handful of beet greens, washed and shredded
salt, freshly ground black pepper and sugar or vinegar to taste

Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large saucepan or casserole and fry the bacon for a few minutes until the fat begins to run. Stir in the onion, turn the heat down, cover and cook for 4-5 minutes then add the remaining oil and the grated carrot, pop a lid on the pan and continue to cook over a low heat. Halve the beetroot, slice thinly then slice across into short batons. Tip the beetroot and tomato, if using, into the other vegetables, stir, add the thyme and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Add the stock and bring to the boil then cook until the vegetables are soft (about 20 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add a little sugar if you feel it needs it or a few drops of vinegar if you think it needs sharpening up. Add the shredded greens, cook for a couple more minutes and serve. Good with rye or sourdough bread or crispbread spread with a soft cheese like Quark or goats cheese

What to drink: Assuming you've given up booze for a few days I'd go for water or a dry-ish apple juice. Otherwise a nicely chilled pilsner would be perfect

Beetroot latkes: the perfect recipe for Thanksgivukkah

The idea of Thanksgivukkah - a once-in-a-lifetime simultaneous celebration of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah - has really caught on. Caterer Elly Curshen of Bristol's Pear Café comes up with her perfect starter.

Elly writes: "This year, the first day of Hanukkah and the American holiday of Thanksgiving fall on the same day.

Because the Gregorian and Jewish calendars are worked out in different ways, and have slightly different average year lengths, over time they drift out of sync with each other. Thanksgiving Day will not fall entirely within the eight days of Hanukkah again in any of our lifetimes (It has been calculated that, if the Jewish calendar is not revised, Thursday, November 28 will not fall during Hanukkah again for another 77,798 years!).

Both these holidays are basically incredibly food-centred so for a once in a lifetime event, what do you serve?

North American/Thanksgiving favourites such as pumpkin, cranberries, sweet potatoes and turkey can happily appear on Thanksgivukkah menus alongside the Hanukkah essentials.

According to my grandma Angela, for a traditional Hanukkah dinner latkes [think of them as Jewish hash browns!] and doughnuts are a must. Anything else is up to you'. Basically the Jewish festival of lights calls for fried stuff. Suits me.

Due to it being such a rare occasion, celebrating Thanksgivukkah is a chance to create new 'classics' - there's no right or wrong here. Doughnuts with a spiced pumpkin filling? Sweet potato latkes with apple sauce? Turkey with challah stuffing? YES to all of it!

Here are a couple of ideas if you fancy celebrating. Any excuse for fried things and booze, in my opinion.

Beetroot latkes with horseradish sour cream, smoked salmon, red onion and rocket

Makes 12 canapé-sized latkes, or 6 bigger starter-sized ones.

Peel and grate a largish raw beetroot and a largish raw potato using a food processor or by hand.

Squeeze out as much liquid as possible. When you think you're done, squeeze the rest out. You want the mixture as dry as possible.

Put into a large bowl and add salt, pepper, one beaten egg and enough cornflour so that you have a stiffish mixture. About half a cup as a guide.

Leave for 10 to 20 minutes and then using a spoon, dollop piles of the mixture into hot oil, 1cm deep. You can make them mini, canapé sized or larger - don't go bigger than the size of your palm though or they won't cook through.

Flatten them down in the pan and flip over when well browned. Cook on both sides then drain on kitchen roll. Serve hot, topped with horseradish flavoured sour cream, smoked salmon, very finely sliced red onion and a bit of rocket.

Variations:

* Use sweet potato instead of the beetroot/potato mix. This won't need to be squeezed as much as it is naturally a lot drier. Add some very finely diced red onion to tone down the sweetness and season very well with salt and black pepper.

* Try topping with apple sauce (chopped Bramley apple, a little water, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, a little sugar, slowly cooked down over a low heat) and sour cream.

And how about making doughnuts and dusting them with granulated sugar and the traditional pumpkin pie spice blend (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice) while still hot? My friend Sig (aka Signe Johansen of Scandilicious) has a great recipe. Just make up your own spiced sugar mix to taste.

What to drink with the latkes: Fried stuff calls for chilled fino sherry in Elly's and my book but I know that's not to everyone's taste. A sparkling wine like cava or prosecco or even champagne would be great as would a crisp Sauvignon Blanc or the Barkan Fusion White 2012, a zesty blend of Sauvignon, Colombard and Chardonnay from Israel (£9.49 Marks & Spencer) FB