Vegetable of the week: Beetroot

In the doldrums of March the farmer’s market in Fort Greene and city wide is pretty scant but a few veggies shine through the gloom. Let’s start with beets, a vegetable often associated with childhood meal nightmares but in recent years seems to have reclaimed it’s gourmet status.

It’s a magic vegetable that has a never ending list of health benefits from being an antioxidant to reducing blood pressure to relieving stress!

I’m thinking of making this delicious zaatar dip by Yotam Ottolenghi. His books “Jerusalem” and “Plenty” are well thumbed favorites in our home.

And we’re always roasting root vegetables at this time of year so why not mix in some extra yummy ingredients.

Finally, who better than Nigel Slater to round off the meal with his unexpected chocolate beet cake.