Sir Jamess Beetroot Salad Recipes

Steps:

• Boil beetroots, carrots and potatoes in separate pots, in their skins, until just cooked. Let cool, peel and chop.
• Chop gherkin and peeled apples.
• Mince onion.
• Layer ingredients in a bowl, starting and finishing with beetroot. Sprinkle a little bit of salt and white pepper on each layer.
• Mix ingredients when the salad is on the table, ready to serve.
• To make dressing: whip cream until thickened (it should be not be stiff!) and mix in the rest of the ingredients. Serve on the side.

Steps:

• To make the sauce, beat the egg yolks well in a basin, then add the mustard, pepper and salt.
• The drop by drop add the olive oil and the vinegars, beating well with a fork or whisk as for a mayonnaise.
• When the mayonnaise has "taken", add the whipped cream. Keep cold.
• Just before serving slice the beetroot and cover with the sauce, poured over the salad not mixed inches.
• Theodora Fitzgibbon notes: Sir James remarks: "A spendthrift for oil, a miser for vinegar, and a lunatic to mix it!" Nowadays, of course, a good mechanical mixer may be used in place of the lunatic.

Steps:

• First, make the salt crust. Blitz the rosemary and salt in a food processor, then add the flour and egg whites with 200ml water. Blitz again to bring together. Tip the mixture onto a clean surface and knead for 5 mins to form a smooth ball, then wrap in cling film and chill for 1 hr.
• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/ gas 3. Roll the dough out to the thickness of a £1 coin. Put the beetroots in the middle and draw the edges up to form a bag. Bake on a tray for 2 1/2 hrs
• Meanwhile, make the pickling liquor for the onions. In a saucepan, combine the vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds and 1 tsp salt over a medium heat, and bring to the boil. Add the dill and leave to cool for 30 mins. Strain the mixture onto the onions, and leave for a further 1 hr, then drain. In a small bowl, mix the dressing ingredients with some seasoning and set aside.
• Remove the beetroots from the oven and leave in the salt crust until cool enough to handle. Open the salt crust with your hands and discard. Peel the beetroot, cut into wedges and drizzle with a little rapeseed oil.
• Mix the beetroots, onions and beetroot leaves in a large mixing bowl, then add the dressing. Reserving a little of each for decoration, add the chives, apple and hazelnuts, toss well, then tip into a large serving bowl. Crumble the feta over the top with the reserved ingredients, then let everyone help themselves. Best served slightly warm.

Steps:

• Drain, wash and drain the beetroot.
• Cut each in half.
• Mix the remaining ingredients together and mix through the beets gently and thouroughly.