Colourful beet salad

 

These baby beets (and a couple of baby purple carrots) were boiled and then peeled (the skin comes off easily) and dressed with olive oil and salt, plus a sprinkle of fennel leaves. I added onion weed, borage and calendula petals to complete the salad. Very yummy, and pretty! 

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Oakune Carrot and Beetroot Salad with Feta, Thyme and Edible Flowers

Ohakune is a small town in the North Island of New Zealand, situated 215 kilometres north of Wellington and 292 kilometres south of Auckland. It is located in the Tongariro National Park, at the food of the active volcano Mount Ruapehu. It is also New Zealand’s ‘carrot capital' so after a ski trip there we always get carrots, and other produce (potatoes, beetroots, swedes). 

Recipe: Wash the carrots and beetroots and boil in water (together) until soft but not too much (not mushy!!!). Then rinse under cold water and remove the skins with your fingers (from the carrots too). Cut into bite size pieces. Dress with olive oil, salt and lemon juice, add cubed feta and stir. Place on a plate and add fresh thyme, onion weed flowers and broccolini or friarielli flowers (they are edible and have a lovely peppery taste). Add plenty! These are not decorations, these are to be eaten! And now a few photo of life in the garden!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Red Beetroot with Wasabi Mayonnaise and Pink Eggs for Easter.

This is a perfect salad or starter for Easter! The eggs are naturally coloured with the beetroot water, and the mayo-wasabi combo marries perfectly with red beetroots.

 Open a LeaderBrand ready-to-serve beetroot packet and save the liquid to colour the eggs. Cut the beetroots into cubes, then add one big tbsp of mayonnaise and a little wasabi (to taste). Stir and refrigerate. If using fresh beetroots wash and boil them  until you can easily pierce them with a knife. Let them cool down and then peel them (keep the peels aside in a bowl with a little water to colour the eggs later on).

Boil 4 eggs, peel and colour by immersing them in a bowl with the beetroot juice and a little water. Serve with the beetroot wasabi mayo salad.

I am entering this recipe into the LeaderBrand ready-to-serve beetroot special competition, dedicated purely to the taste and versatility of one of New Zealand’s favourite vegetables. 

The winner will receive a bumper prize pack containing 5x packs of the LeaderBrand ready-to-serve beetroot, 5x packs of ready-to-serve gourmet potatoes and 5x packs of ready-to-serve sweetcorn. On top of that, the winner will receive a $300 New World voucher and $200 worth of cooking equipment from Stevens. Two runners-up will receive smaller gift packs, containing the ready-to-serve produce and some other delicious surprise foodie treats.

Well, I hope to win so wish me good luck! And good luck to all other food bloggers taking part!

How to enter:

All you have to do is concoct a recipe that showcases New Zealand beetroot. It couldn’t be easier! You can email the link to  jennifer@saltandpepperpr.com or pop a link up on the LeaderBrand Facebook Page  

Entries will open 5pm on Friday 20 March and close 5pm on Monday 13 April 2015.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Red beetroot soup with fresh goat cheese

 

Red beetroot soup with fresh goat cheese

This colourful soup is incredibly quick and simple to prepare, but the flavour (and look) is almost restaurant-like, and everyone will ask you for the recipe!

Ingredients:

1 celery stick with leaves

half onion

half carrot

1 l light vegetable stock

one pack LeaderBrand beetroot

fresh goat cheese to serve

freshly ground pepper (optional)

Serves 4 - Gluten free - Vegetarian

Put the celery stick (cut), half a onion and half a carrot in a pot with the vegetable stock and simmer until the carrot is almost soft (about 10 minutes from boiling point). Add one pack LeaderBrand beetroot and simmer for 5 more minutes, then turn the heat off and let the vegetables and stock cool down until lukewarm. Blend the soup in a blender and pour back into the pot, heat gently and dish. Top with a broken-up slice of fresh goat cheese, adding freshly ground pepper if desired.

I am entering this recipe into the LeaderBrand ready-to-serve beetroot special competition, dedicated purely to the taste and versatility of one of New Zealand’s favourite vegetables. 

The winner will receive a bumper prize pack containing 5x packs of the LeaderBrand ready-to-serve beetroot, 5x packs of ready-to-serve gourmet potatoes and 5x packs of ready-to-serve sweetcorn. On top of that, the winner will receive a $300 New World voucher and $200 worth of cooking equipment from Stevens. Two runners-up will receive smaller gift packs, containing the ready-to-serve produce and some other delicious surprise foodie treats.

Well, I hope to win so wish me good luck! And good luck to all other food bloggers taking part!

How to enter:

All you have to do is concoct a recipe that showcases New Zealand beetroot. It couldn’t be easier! You can email the link to  jennifer@saltandpepperpr.com or pop a link up on the LeaderBrand Facebook Page  

Entries will open 5pm on Friday 20 March and close 5pm on Monday 13 April 2015.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Beautiful beetroots!

I love making fresh juice with red beetroots, it tastes great and the colour always cheers me up. Then the other day my friend Alan from Dream of Italy gave me an Italian beetroot from his garden, I think that it must be this one. Well, when I cut it I though that it looked so pretty that I didn't want to juice it! So I just cooked it al dente, and then cooled it under cold water and added extra virgin olive oil, lemon and salt. Unfortunately the cooking took the colour away, but it still looked really pretty (scroll down for the photo). Next time I'll get another beet from Alan I'll try it raw, cut into very thin slices.

And then I used a 'normal' red beetroot for my juice!
1 large red beetroot, 6 large carrots, 4 stalks of celery, half a cucumber and 6 pears.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Fresh juice using beetroot stalks and leaves….

… plus beetroots from the garden, carrots, apples, and a little ginger. For five juices I used about 1.5 kg of carrots, plus a few local apples, and i picked two beetroots from my veggie garden, they were small but the leaves and stalks are perfect for juicing too (of salad) so nothing get wasted. I used just a little ginger (not all the piece in the photo) to give the juice a little zest. It was really sweet and delicious!

And now, just because I like these flowers so much, here are a couple of shots of Hydrangeas from Ponsonby Central. Have a great day!

 Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Fuchsia, Fandango and Purple

I have prepared my photos and recipes, but to be honest I am not in the best mood for posting. There has been another big earthquake in Christchurch and I have just seen a friend of mine on the evening news getting some bottled water from the civil defense. Many homes are without water and electricity, and many are badly damaged. All you can think is 'Oh no, not again!'. Then there is this volcanic dust cloud over New Zealand and many flights are grounded, tomorrow my daughter (12) is supposed to be flying to Wellington for the Kids Lit Quiz Nationals (last week her team from Glen Eden Intermediate won the Auckland round, beating 54 schools) and we don't know yet if they will be able to go. It would be so sad if they cannot, those 4 kids are looking forward to it, and they really have a very very good knowledge of children literature. I'll keep my finger crossed for them but, most importantly, I hope hope hope that this was the last earthquake ever in Christchurch.

An now to the recipes, and another palette to colour my winter. I used red beetroots to make two different salads and some fuchsia eggs. The first salad has the classic combination of beetroot and feta, plus the addition of carrots, which take on a lovely pink hue, and some coriander for a bit of zing! The second salad was a hit with the kids: wasabi mayo is easy to make and can be used not only for beetroots, but also for potatoes, pumpkin, kumara, beans, and any other vegetable that you like to turn into a creamy salad.

Which one do you prefer???

Red Beetroot, Carrot, Feta and Coriander Salad.

Wash and boil the red beetroots until you can easily pierce them with a knife. Let them cool down and then peel them (keep the peels aside to colour the eggs later on). Cut them into cubes., then add a grated carrot, cubed feta cheese, chopped fresh coriander, olive oil, lemon juice (optional) and salt and pepper to taste.

Red Beetroot with Wasabi Mayonnaise and Pink Eggs.

Wash and boil the red beetroots until you can easily pierce them with a knife. Let them cool down and then peel them (keep the peels aside to colour the eggs later on). Cut them into cubes, then add one big tbsp of mayonnaise and a little wasabi (to taste). Stir. Boil the eggs, peel and colour using the beetroot peels. You can either rub the peels directly onto the eggs, or place them in a bowl of water and immerse the eggs in it for 30 minutes. Serve with the beetroot wasabi mayo salad.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©