Beetroot with Horseradish
Finally on the site - a recipe that is very dear to me!
Why so late? You already know my story with vinegar and all the things I refused to eat for many years because of it. Beets and horseradish were the main targets. When I realized how much I like both, I started to enjoy them with great pleasure. Then my taste buds also understood the role of vinegar in food. And step by step I arrived at this salad. In the last year I've tasted many beetroot salads with horseradish, sometimes even several jars from different sources in parallel, until I figured out how I want my perfect salad to be. I considered:
- color: it should be vivid, with fuchsia reflections, not dark towards brownish; the color is generally given by the variety of beet used but also by how much you bake/boil it
- texture: a bit al dente, the salad shouldn't be mushy; here we need to be careful about how much we bake/boil it; I prefer grated salad (or at least cut into very small cubes) rather than slices... just a matter of personal taste
- taste: all elements balanced; the vinegar should give a little acidity and balance the sweetness of the beet, without being particularly noticeable in the mix (it shouldn't scratch my sensitive taste buds 😋); horseradish not too little as the salad seems faint, nor too much as it covers the taste of the beet
You know what this salad goes well with, but I especially like it next to this potato stew.
Ingredients
650 g red beetroot (round; 6 smaller beets)
3-4 tablespoons white wine vinegar (9 degrees)
1 level tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
20-25 g grated horseradish (about 1 tablespoon jarred horseradish)
a little caraway (ground or seeds; optional)
Yield: 1 jar of 450 ml
How to prepare beetroot with horseradish
- I choose small and round beets. Small because they cook/boil faster, plus they're younger, so less fibrous and more succulent. Round because I've noticed they have a nicer color and are less fibrous than elongated ones. I also look at the area where the stem was cut and prefer those with a cherry-fuchsia color over those with a dark cherry color. It's just an appearance thing, but this way the salad color is more vivid, more pink.
- Red beets are baked or boiled in their skin (in water or steamed). Whatever method you choose, the important thing is not to boil the beets too much until they become mushy, just until a fork goes into them without meeting resistance in the center. If you want to bake the beets, do this: wash them well with a steel sponge, then place them in a deeper dish, side by side, without draining them well of water. Cover the dish and bake at 180C until a fork goes into them (roughly, for small round beets it took an hour and a half). At first check the beets every half hour, then when you see the fork starts to penetrate them, check every 10-15 minutes. During checks, if it seems they're drying out and shriveling at the bottom of the dish, sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of water before covering and putting back in the oven.
- Let the beets cool, then peel them (wear gloves and use newspapers so you don't stain your hands and counter). Grate the beets on a coarse grater. I prefer grated beets, it seems like the flavors blend better, but some cut them into thin slices or small cubes.
- Bring the vinegar mixed with sugar and salt just to a boil, just enough to dissolve them. Pour over the beets along with the grated horseradish and mix gently until the horseradish is evenly distributed. If desired, sprinkle with a little caraway.
- Pack into jars. It's good to serve from the next day, so the beets have time to macerate a bit and the flavors blend. Keep in the refrigerator or in a cool pantry for 2 weeks. From the quantities above, I filled a 450 ml jar.
The washed beetroot goes into the oven
The roasted beetroot
The dressed beetroot
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