Beetroot – Journey From A Polish Kitchen

Beetroot & Apples – 2

The first beetroot & apple recipe was one that contained horseradish and was usually served cold.
I bought some organic beetroots and steamed them but thought they did not have much flavour.
The Bramley apples in the garden are just becoming ripe so I decided to use these as well.

INGREDIENTS

4 steamed beetroots
2 large Bramley apples
A teaspon of sugar – optional

METHOD

Coarse grate the beetroots.
Peel and core the apples and coarse grate them too.
Mix the two together and heat gently till the apples are cooked.
You might want to add a little water.
Check on tartness – you might want to add a little sugar.
Serve hot with roast meats
Or cold with salads or smoked meats.

Herring Salad 3

This makes a super all in one lunch.
It has many classic Polish ingredients: beetroot, hardboiled eggs. herrings and horseradish.
The garlic chives grow well in my garden – they are lovely for a garnish – the flowers are super to eat.

INGREDIENTS

Shredded lettuce
Bottled herrings & the onions
Milk to soak the herrings
2 large steamed beetroots – peeled and chopped.
4 hardboiled eggs – chopped
Juice from 1 lemon.
*
Flowers from garlic chives (or chopped garlic chives or chives)
*
Horseradish sauce to serve

METHOD

Drain the herrings and onions from the liquid.
Soak the herrings in milk for couple of hours to remove a lot of the salt.
Chop the herring into small pieces.
In a dish place the shredded lettuce at the bottom.
Layer up with the eggs, beetroots, herrings and the onions from the jar.
Pour the lemon juice over them.
Lightly mix the ingredients.
Sprinkle garlic chive flowers over the top if available (or chopped chives)
*
Serve with a large dollop of horseradish sauce.

Beetroot & Apple Salad

Yesterday one of my friends came round with freshly picked beetroots from her allotment.
I quickly boiled these and used some of them to make a very simple salad.

Ingredients

3 boiled beetroots
3 eating apples such as Braeburn
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt & Pepper

Method

Grate the beetroots using a coarse grater.
Peel and core the apples.
Grate the apples using a coarse grater.
Mix the beetroots and apples together.
Pour the lemon juice over them and mix together.
Season to taste

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Ukrainian Salad

I bought this jar of salad from my Polish shop.
It is Sałatka ukraińska – Ukrainian salad.
It was very good.
Good to have in as a standby.
I wanted to make a similar salad.
I looked this up and could not find a recipe similar with beetroots.
I noted down the ingredients written on the label.
Vinegar and sugar were used in the jar – I used lemon juice and honey.
The salad will come out differently each time if you change the proportions of the vegetables.

Ingredients

3 medium boiled beetroots
1 onion
½ a small white cabbage or sweetheart cabbage
1 large or 2 medium carrots
1 red pepper
Juice from 2 lemons
2 tablespoons of runny – honey
Salt & pepper to taste

Method

Grate the beetroots using a coarse grater.
Chop the onion into fine pieces.
Shred the cabbage into fine strands.
Grate the carrot using a coarse grater
Chop the pepper into small pieces.
Mix all the vegetables together.
Mix the lemon juice and honey.
Mix the dressing with the vegetables
Season to taste.

Note

Tastes good straight away but can be kept in the fridge for several days as well.

Beetroots & Apples

This is a delicious way of serving beetroot warm with a roast dinner.

Ingredients

500g boiled or roast beetroots
2-3 cooking apples
60g of butter
Juice and grated rind of a lemon
2-3 tablespoons of creamed horseradish sauce
125ml of soured cream
Salt & pepper to taste

Method

Grate the beetroots using a medium grater.
Peel and core the apples and grate using a medium grater.
Mix the beetroot and apple together.
Mix in the lemon rind and juice.

Melt the butter in a large shallow frying pan.
Gently cook the mixture in the butter stirring often.
Cook for around 5-10 minutes.
Take of the heat.
Add the horseradish sauce and the soured cream.
Mix well together.
Season to taste and serve immediately.

Serve in Royal Doulton – Carnation – 1982 – 1998.

Note

Should you have any left you can serve it cold with cold meats.

Beetroot Fritters

These beetroot fritters are not from an old Polish recipe. I got the idea from making Polish potato pancakes and carrot pancakes and seeing all the new season beetroot.

Ingredients

250g cooked beetroots
1 egg – beaten
2 tablespoons of soured cream or creamed horseradish sauce*
2 tablespoons of plain flour
Salt
Sunflower oil for frying

* If you have a little fresh grated horseradish that would be super.

Method

Grate the beetroots using a coarse grater.
Add the beaten egg and the soured cream or horseradish sauce and mix together.
Add the flour and mix thoroughly.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and use large tablespoonfuls of the mixture to make the fritters.
Fry them on both sides.
*
Keep them on a heat proof plate in a low heat oven whilst you make the rest.

They can be served with many hot roast dinners or separately with a dollop of soured cream or creamed horseradish sauce.

Plates

Arc – Arcopal – from the 1970s
Royal Bone China – The Poets’ Garden – Columbine & Sweet Amber

Chłodnik – 3 – Beetroot & Cucumber

This chilled soup is a refreshing start to a meal in summer.

Beetroot concentrate is used in this easy version.

Ingredients

Half a cucumber
Spring onion – green parts or chives
500ml of yoghurt or 300ml soured cream & lemon juice
2 tablespoons of beetroot concentrate
Handful of dill
Lemon juice and cold water
Salt & Pepper & Sugar to taste
*
Hard boiled eggs to serve – ½ egg per person

Method

Part peel the cucumber length-ways to give stripes.
Chop the cucumber into small cubes.
Chop the spring onions or chives into small pieces.
Chop the dill into small pieces.
Mix the yoghurt or soured cream & lemon juice with the beetroot concentrate.
Thin this down with lemon juice and water to suit.
Mix with the chopped cucumber.
Add dill and spring onions or chives.
Adjust the seasoning to taste.
Chill in the fridge for several hours.
*
Serve with quarters of hard boiled eggs and a sprinkle of chives.

Served in Tapestry by Royal Doulton – 1966 – 1988

Chłodnik – 2 – Beetroot & Gherkin

Chłodnik means coolant and it is a refreshing start to a meal in summer.

This classic version is usually make with botwiny for which I cannot find a good translation into English.

Botwiny are young beetroots with the stalks and some leaves still attached. In Poland you can buy bunches of these for sale or you can pick them early from your garden or allotment. Here in England I have not see them for sale so if you want them you will have to grow them for yourself.

If you do have some you use all the parts – the roots, stalks and the leaves otherwise you just use cooked beetroot.

The classic version uses soured milk but unless you have access to this then Greek style natural yoghurt or soured cream and lemon juice are good alternatives.

I use beetroot concentrate which is convenient and very tasty.

1 tablespoon of beetroot concentrate to 250ml of yoghurt is a good proportion.

Ingredients

250g of cooked beetroots
3-4 gherkins
Spring onion – green parts or chives
500ml of yoghurt or 300ml soured cream
2 tablespoons of beetroot concentrate
Handful of dill
Lemon juice and gherkin liquor and cold water
Salt & Pepper & Sugar to taste
*
Hard boiled eggs to serve – ½ egg per person

Method

Chop the beetroot into small cubes.
Chop the gherkins into small cubes.
Chop the spring onions or chives into small pieces.
Chop the dill into small pieces.
Mix the yoghurt or soured cream & lemon juice with the beetroot concentrate.
Thin this down with lemon juice, gherkin liquor & water to suit.
Add the chopped beetroots, gherkins, dill and spring onions or chives.
Adjust the seasoning to taste.
Chill in the fridge for several hours.
*
Serve with quarters of hard boiled eggs and a sprinkle of chives or dill.

Served in Carnation by Royal Doulton – 1982 – 1998

Chłodnik – 1 – Clear Beetroots

The word chłodnik means coolant and it is a refreshing start to a meal in summer. The word is often translated as cold soup and that just does not do it justice.

Now my mother never made chłodnik and with the thoughts of a cold soup, which might be a little greasy I never imagined it would be good.

Then on a summer visit to Poland, one of my aunties made it with beetroots from her garden. She served it with a bowl of steaming boiled potatoes, lightly crushed, also freshly dug from the garden. I remember these as the most delicious potatoes I had ever had. The chłodnik was wonderful and I was hooked!

This is a chilled version of barszcz the classic Polish beetroot soup.

I make the clear, meat-free, Lenten barszcz made for Wigilia – Christmas Eve .

Many years ago I started to make my barszcz with beetroot concentrate as the base, with the addition of vegetable stock and this has proved to be very popular. This is what I used for the chłodnik.

I sometimes also use barszcz from a carton, which is incredible, tastes home made! However there was none in stock at my local Polish shop last week.

Red on Red!

I recently went to a family gathering, although it was in fact a very sad occasion, it did include a lovely buffet meal.
There was a beetroot and carrot salad served, which had a lovely sweetness and seemed to me quite Polish in style.
I asked one of cousins if she knew who had made the salad and was told that this was one of the dishes supplied by a local “deli” in Consett.
So I have had a go at making this and made one with beetroot and another with red cabbage – both delicious.
Serve with cold meats and Polish style sausages or roast pork or grilled lamb chops.

Sweet Red Dressing

I made the same dressing for both of the salads – using redcurrant the first time and lingonberry the second.

Ingredients

Around 200g (7-8 tablespoons) of either Redcurrant jelly, Lingonberry jam or Cranberry sauce.
Juice of one lemon.

Method

Put the jelly/jam into a small saucepan.
Add the lemon juice.
Heat gently and stir with a wooden spoon.
Keep stirring until the ingredients have combined and you have a thick liquid.
Leave to cool before use.

Beetroot & Carrot Salad

Ingredients

Boiled beetroots – I used 2 vacuum packets
2 Carrots

Method

Chop the beetroot into small chunks or cubes.
Grate the carrots using the coarse grater.
Mix the beetroot and carrots together.
Pour the dressing over them and mix well.
*
I found that this was better if it was left for many hours as the beetroot really absorbs the dressing.
You can add the dressing to the beetroots first and leave overnight and then add the carrots the next day.