Foods that stain your fingers ...

For this post I decided it might be nice to do a double up of recipes containing foods with a mutual characteristic. Maybe it’s a defence mechanism but this specific one can be slightly off putting for some. However, you will soon forget about your discoloured digits after eating these delicious dishes.

Cherry sorbert

As you drive around the city, various stalls have popped up selling cherries, plums, apricots, nectarines and other juicy delights marking summer. This time of year means special one off dishes that are difficult to come by during the winter months. Perhaps the much colder weather makes us appreciate these fruits more; I say this as I try to hide my enthusiasm for them. I actually picked these cherries up from the Christchurch Farmers market. They are older, and as a result a bit of a bargain, but they still produce a fine sorbet.

Cherry sorbet

4 cups cherries, pitted

½ cup white sugar

1 tablespoon kirsh (you can add more to suit your taste, but this amount produced a deliciously sweet flavour rather than, in my opinion, an over powering alcoholic taste)

Process all together and put into a freezable 1 litre container.

Stir every few hours.

I must say this resulted in an amazing sorbet so it comes highly, highly recommended. I tried a black forest sorbet by mixing in some bits of dark chocolate but really the flavour spoke for itself without it.

Roasted beetroot and rocket salad

I have recently started a bit of gardening, which for those that know me really well will probably come as a surprise. I planted rocket, strawberries, beetroot, rhubarb, lettuce and some herbs. The beetroots have easily increased in size; they were purchased already half grown from the supermarket (I’m still claiming it!). So here I am proud to present my own beetroot and rocket straight from the garden. This recipe has been adapted from Annabel Langbein’s book The Free Range Cook.

 

Roasted beetroot and rocket salad

8 beetroot

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Salt and black pepper

A handful of rocket leaves

A handful of beetroot leaves

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ cup roasted almonds

100g feta cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 180°C. Boil the beetroot for ten minutes, then peel and chop into wedges. Mix together the first measure of oil, sugar, vinegar and salt and pepper in roasting tray. Toss through beetroot and spread out into a single layer.

Roast for 40 minutes until just starting to shrivel. Allow to cool in the roasting tray. While the beetroot is cooking, roast the almonds in the oven for around 20 minutes stirring every now and again.

Evenly coat the rocket and beetroot leaves with lemon juice and second measure of oil. Toss together with the beetroot, almonds and feta.

This is a simple and tasty side dish that incorporates the whole beetroot plant- how resourceful. And it still tastes good.