I have always despised beetroot. Eversince my first, force-fed mouthful of that foulsome vegetable at the hands of the dictatorial school dinner ladies, I put an embargo on it.  Occasionally,  I have had the ordeal of  gagging on a lettuce leaf that has been tarnished with pink. But on the whole I have successfully avoided it. I have happily lived a beetroot free, liver free and over-boiled-carrot-cut-into-circles free existence ever since.  Until now.

Recently, I was invited to a lovely friend's house for supper. Always fun. On the menu was beetroot soup, or borscht as my Russo-phile friend kept irritatingly calling it. I simply could not believe my misfortune as my pulse started racing and my lips went dry. Dear fellow fussy eaters - you know the signs. There was no escape. What was my host thinking? Did they not know that one should never risk controversial food such as beetroot or bone marrow without prior warning? A good cook she is, Nigella she is not. And yet. And yet....it was utterly delicious. Rich and tangy. It's taste was sharp, yet sweet and utterly, utterly addictive. I was astounded and I wanted more.

Type beetroot into any search engine and you will find copious articles about how it is the next superfood and how it can cure cancer. I am not convinced either is true, although medical evidence does seem to suggest that drinking 500ml of beetroot juice a day can significantly reduce blood pressure. The other great theme is that the beetroot is back. I don't think that it ever went away. I believe that all those people who are besotted by beetroot have always loved it. As with my own experience, many beetroot fans first taste of the vegetable was the pickled stuff from the school canteen. Put simply, they like the taste, whatever form it is in. What the soup saga and my following encounters with beetroot have shown me is that it is a far more versatile vegetable than I had ever realised. I doubt I will ever enjoy the raw product, but diluted with other British components it really is rather delicious. Jane Grigson has described beetroot as being 'Far too bossy a vegetable'. This is an absolutely brilliant description of raw chunks of the stuff . They take over your mouth and interfere with all other tastes. The mother-in-law of the vegetable world. However, with a gentle hand and in measured quantities I am convinced that like me, all beetroot bashers will learn to love a little of the pink stuff.

I recently tried Hot Raw Beetroot, whereby you grate it and stir-fry it in butter for two minutes. I served it with some rye bread, Scottish smoked salmon and a little sour cream. There was some left over - tentative was I in my portion sizing - so I ate it alongside Cottage Pie the following evening and they complimented each other beautifully. I have also made Harry Eastwood's Red Velvet Cake (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Velvet-Chocolate-Heartache-feel-good/dp/0593062361) where beetroot replaces butter in the recipe. Absolutely divine. She has also written fabulous recipes for chocolate beetroot brownies and beetroot fudge. There have also been a few further bad experiences. I tried a slice on top of a homemade beef burger and I had to drink half the nations water supply in order to rid my mouth of that overpowering taste. I also attempted to give some beetroot soup to Florence, a four-year-old girl and avid fan of the colour pink and tomato soup. I thought my lunch offering would be a guaranteed success story. It took three hours and several chocolate beetroot brownies to convince her to trust me again. Maybe a little less of the beetroot next time.

For the official Love Beetroot website [click here]
For the beetroot soup recipe that converted me [click here]
For a beetroot ice cream recipe [click here]

This month The Sauce tries Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe for Beetroot Brownies.

The Sauce

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe for Beetroot Brownies

• What ingredients did you use and how readily available were they?
  I ordered some British cooking chocolate online from Aphrodite Chocolates.  A 500g bag is £15.45 and I needed 250g for the recipe so it is expensive but true British-made chocolate is hard to find.  I used Doves self-raising flour, English butter and local free range eggs all bought from the supermarket.  I used Tate and Lyle Caster Sugar, which was also bought from the supermarket.  I was lucky enough to be given a beetroot from a friend's vegetable patch. 


• What was the sum total cost of this meal
  If I had not been so discriminate about the chocolate it would have been £5, in reality it was £11.22


• How many people did it actually feed?
  10


• What did you do with the leftovers?
  There were none


• What did your guests think of the Brownies?
  A unanimous seven out of ten


• Would you cook it again?
  No....once this version had cooled down they were a bit fiberous.  I have since tried another recipe which I felt were much quicker to cook, richer in taste and there was no trace of beetroot once they had cooled.

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