I had fourteen people to dinner on Friday and am still cleaning up, leaving my lovely man to wash fifty glasses (being a perfectionist, he won’t put them into the dishwasher) and getting back to normal. It was a fab evening with friends we haven’t brought together for too long. And it was the cheapest dish- beetroot and potato starter that got the biggest cheers and even some lines of red poetry. So here it is. Enjoy. I am sure it will cheer up the lone diner too- just the beautiful colour does it for me.
Red To Start With
For 4
4 fat beetroots cooked and grated and then mopped with kitchen towel
3 big potatoes, parboiled for six minutes, cooled and grated too.
2 onions finely chopped
3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
Salt to taste
Tahini paste
Pine nuts
½ tsp garam masala – bought from any Asian food shop
Gently mix the beetroots and potatoes, salt and garam masala with a metal spoon.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a flat, wide pan which you can put into the oven
Add the seeds and cook for 3 minutes
Press the beetroot mix down as flat as possible over teh onions
Cook for two more minutes and take off the heat.
Brush the top with remaining oil and bake in a medium oven for fifteen minutes.
Cool
Spread tahini paste over the top and sprinkle with pine nuts. Serve with pits bread