Don’t like beetroot? Make this recipe, as a side to family meal, or as a healthy warming lunch - it’s a game changer and a great way to get in one of your ‘five-a-day’. Make it vegan simply by using the substitutes ingredients below.
Serves 4-8
Ingredients
- 850g small beetroot, multiple colours & types
- 650g kumara or sweet potato
- 3-4 cloves garlic, peeled & finely sliced
- 4-5 small sprigs thyme
- 50g unsalted butter, diced or (V) 1 tbsp rapeseed oil, extra for greasing
- 120ml chicken stock or (V) vegan vegetable stock
- 5 tbsp double cream or (V) 7 tbsp coconut milk
- 1 tsp black pepper, freshly cracked
- 50g parmesan, finely grated, optional
Method
Preheat the oven to 190C/170C (fan)/gas 5. Lightly grease a 23 - 25cm round, shallow, iron pan, or oven proof dish, with butter or oil.
Wash and peel the beetroot and kumara. Finely slice, using a sharp knife, into discs 3-5mm thick. Stack discs around the edge of the pan/dish. Start with an outer ring, then alternate rows of beetroot and kumara, working your way into the middle, using smaller discs as you go inward, creating a decorative rosette.
Poke in the slices of garlic and tuck in your thyme leaves evenly amongst the layers. Dot the top with the butter cubes or drizzle over oil and pour in the stock. Cover with a layer of tin foil, seal down the sides and bake in the middle of the oven for 50 minutes.
Remove the foil, pour the cream or coconut milk evenly over, grind on some black pepper and spread parmesan on top (if using). Bake, uncovered, for a further 20-25 minutes until you get a crispy top. Alternatively, if substituting the ingredients for the vegan version of this recipe, simply bake, without the cheese on top, until crispy and browned.
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Kylee Newton is a food writer, educator, and recipe developer, addressing modern food ethics. Kylee’s food looks at the modern concerns of seasonality, and sustainability, with a strong focus on traditional methods, wasting less and longevity, predominately through preserving.
Kylee has two published cookery books, The Modern Preserver and The Modern Preserver’s Kitchen. Her international career has seen her recipes in publications such as the UK’s Guardian ‘Cook’ and ‘Feast’, Observer Food Monthly, the Telegraph, and magazines such as the BBC Goodfood, Olive, and Jamie Oliver. She currently writes columns in the NZ Herald’s ‘Be Well’ and for Dish Magazine.
© Recipe Kylee Newton 2022. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. All rights reserved.
