Last updated 12:04, Friday, 21 March 2008

FRESH beetroot is coming to the end of its season so let’s take advantage of it while we still can.

It is a wonderfully versatile vegetable, as we will prove here with two very different suggestions.

It can be one of those vegetables that people think they either love or hate.

However, when it is not in its vinegar submerged bottled state it can be surprisingly different.

Our first recipe uses a Cumbrian cheese from Wardhall dairy in Wigton. On their website - www.wardhalldairy.co.uk - they say their products are sold at Whins farm shop in High Harrington.

It is a creamy light blue goat’s cheese. If you cannot get hold of this, you can substitute a regular creamy goat’s cheese or a blue cheese like dolcelatte.

This dish can be served as a starter or light snack.

Roasted honey and balsamic beetroot with Wardhall blue

Serves 2

4 small fresh beetroot, peeled

Drizzle of olive oil

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

Fresh thyme

½ pack fresh watercress

Wardhall blue cheese

Chopped walnut or pecans (optional)

Place the beetroot on a baking tray and drizzle over the oil. Season with salt and pepper and a few leaves stripped from some fresh thyme sprigs.

Roast in an oven at 190 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Remove the tray and drizzle the honey and balsamic over the beetroot. Return to the oven and roast for a further 10-15 minutes. If the honey begins to ‘catch’ on the tray and start to burn, just add a tablespoon or so of water to the tray and that will correct the problem.

Arrange some watercress on two serving plates. Scatter over the cooked beetroot and a few nuts if you are using them. Top with a couple of slices of cheese and serve!

We have ‘borrowed’ the next recipe from channel 4’s programme ‘Cook your self thin’. It fits in with our principles of healthy eating and is such an unusual use for beetroot that we really needed to share it.

Beetroot chocolate fudge cake

Serves12-16 depending on how big you like your portion

250g good quality dark chocolate

3 medium eggs

250g light muscovado sugar

Seeds from one vanilla pod

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons honey

40g self raising flour

40g plain flour

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

¼ teaspoon salt

25g cocoa powder

50g ground almonds

250g raw beetroot peeled and finely grated

100ml strong black coffee

30ml sunflower oil

Icing

150g good quality dark chocolate

3 tablespoons strong black coffee

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

3 tablespoons clear honey

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees

Line a 20cm diameter by 8cm loose bottomed cake tin with non stick baking parchment on the base and the edges.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water then set aside to cool.

In a large bowl beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla seeds, maple syrup and honey with an electric hand whisk until pale and fluffy.

Gently fold in the flours, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cocoa and ground almonds until fully incorporated.

Blot away any excess moisture from the beetroot with kitchen paper. Fold into the cake mix along with the cooled chocolate, coffee and oil.

Pour into the prepared tin and cook for 1½ hours. After this time, cover the cake with foil and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes.

Test it is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre. It will have some cake remnants attached to it as it is a really moist cake but it shouldn’t be too gooey.

Leave to cool.

To make the icing, melt the chocolate as before.

Remove from the heat and add the coffee and vanilla. It will seize slightly but it will relax again as you stir in the honey.

Cool the icing for 15 minutes. Cut the cake through the middle. Fill with icing, replace the lid and ice the top and sides.