Beetroot and apple chutney

[pippimac]

Beetroot chutney's my favourite and I make and eat truckloads.
I had heaps of apples so added them to the latest batch and it's really good.
Rough recipe:
Boil beetroot till soft enough to peel, but still a bit undercooked.
Cool in cooking water, peel into it and keep liquid.
Grate beets and put in a big pot.
Grate apples, about 1/2 quantity to beets
Slice quite a few onions finely
Sugar to taste
Cummin seed, but carraway would be good
Lots of salt
Cider vinegar
Throw it all in the pot including strained beet liquid and bring to the boil. It will probably be really wet. I cook it till everything's soft, but not for ages and don't try to reduce it.
Turn heat right down.
Take out a bit of the liquid, cool and whisk in some cornflour. Return to pot and stir till thickened. It should still be a bit runny as it'll thicken up when it cools and you don't want to know the cornflour's even there.
Check the flavour. I like it pretty intense: more vinegary than sweet.
Pack into hot, sterilised jars.
My traditional version without apple is great with roast veggies, cheese, bread, meat...I think this would be fantastic with pork, but I'm waiting for the right pig
It improves with age.

[eco4560]

Awww yummmmm I'm going to have to buy beetroots at the farmers market next weekend. I still can't grow the buggers even though I'm told they are easy.

[nheviel123]

This looks awesome.

Mind if I share my fave recipe of beetroot too?

Cream Of Beetroot Soup

ingredients:
1 large beetroot
4 sage leaves
75 grams of silken tofu

preparation:
1. Chop up the beets and the sage roughly.
2. Blitz the beetroot, sage, along with some water, in a blender till it its a puree. Set aside.
3. In a clean blender, add the tofu cubes and blitz till its the consistency of cream or curd. Add some water if needed.
4. In a bowl, combine the two. I added the two in layers - a tablespoon of beets and then a tablespoon of tofu cream.
5. Serve chilled.

[pippimac]

I think we could easily expand this thread to 'yummy beetroot things!'
I had an amazing chocolate, beetroot and spelt cake a while ago.
There's a reason beetroot, cheese and walnuts is a bit of a restaurant cliche: it's delicious. Versatile too! Blue, goat, feta...basil, rocket, cress...caramelised nuts...rye bread...red onions.

[eco4560]

I'm made the chutney yesterday. The thought of grating beetroot did me in so I cut it into chunks, so it has ended up being rather chunky chutney! I probably didn't add enough vinegar because it is more sweet than vinegary. But it went very well on the pork chops for dinner last night!

[pippimac]

I'm jealous of your pork!
Grating COOKED beetroot's actually about as fast as chopping, but in the end, everything's down to simplicity/time/aesthetics.
When I make chutney, I'll add more vinegar/sugar/salt right to the end of cooking.
The flavours mellow as the chutney matures in the jar, so I tend to make it a bit on the potent side.