As Strong As Soup

This is a simple, little soup but I think it makes humble ingredients taste pleasingly complex and truly satisfying. It's best to use a classic, ruby-coloured beetroot for this dish because it looks so good but other colours will work just fine. You might find that some golden beetroots are extremely sweet, so be prepared to increase the amount of lime juice. If you wished, you could add fresh horseradish to the soup or even make your own creamed horseradish. I agree that homemade is always best but, unless you have the time to spare and you reckon you can eat a significant amount of horseradish, I think it's a lot easier to buy a small jar of good quality creamed horseradish. Although I'd normally serve a bowl of this for lunch, it will also work well as a delicate and refined starter or appetiser since the colour is just so impressive. Of course, the colour is also difficult to eradicate, so try to keep the soup away from your shagpile carpet, best tablecloth, white j...

I know that there are plenty of people around who outwardly look quite normal but inexplicably don't like beetroot. I'm definitely not one of them. Recently I made a mistake and bought too much beetroot. Actually, that was a good thing. It gave me the chance to make a couple of special but really simple beetroot treats. Beetroot In A Sort of Ocklye Dressing This is based a little loosely on a recipe from the Ocklye cookery book published in 1909. The book is described as ‘recipes by a lady and her cook’, which might sound a bit off-putting but it's actually a very usable and varied set of recipes. Well, mostly usable - I wouldn't advise trying to find sun-dried turtle in your local supermarket. Eleanor Jenkinson (the lady) was the author of the book but I think we should be celebrating the skill of Annie Hobden (the cook), who had rather a lot to do with it. 1 tsp white wine vinegar ½ tsp tarragon vinegar ½ tsp Dijon mustard 2 tsp runny honey 2 ...

In the past I've bored everyone I know and anyone unfortunate enough to stumble across this blog by wittering on about how undervalued I think gooseberries are these days. They make very fine jam and puddings, of course, but they're possibly even better in savoury dishes. So I can't let the gooseberry season pass without one more savoury recipe and this year it's a ketchup. Very easy and very delicious I promise. The weather hasn't been perfect this spring or summer so far (I'm a master of understatement) but the gooseberries finally arrived in abundance at the local pick-your-own farm. I really love a PYO and I'm not ashamed to say it. I've combined the sharp gooseberries with the sweetness of beetroot and I suppose I should suggest that you pick fresh beetroot and cook your own. That's a very good thing to do but vacuum-packed, cooked beetroot without added vinegar will definitely do the job if you're pushed for time (and I bet you are). Go...