Warm Beet Salad, Thyme & Tahini

Week 3 of summer break and metaphorically speaking we’re juggling Grandma, summer camp and work schedules.

Grandma flew thousands of miles to be here and is easy company. She is grateful for every meal that is cooked for her and a phrase she uttered more than once has stuck in my mind “Ooh so many flavors, I could never cook like this. Delicious.”

It’s a joy to cook for someone with an adventurous palate, no dietary restrictions and a healthy appetite at the age of 83. I’ve noticed how my husband and I cater to the generational bias surrounding tea times and refreshments. Mostly it’s a good excuse to bake goodies with my girls, using the mulberries falling from the trees in my community garden. Folded into buttermilk scones, they’re a hit with Grandma and a treat for my tired and grubby girls when camp is over at 3pm.

Another messy crop, beetroot, I had hoped would stay in the ground a little longer, but they had all but ejected themselves from the soil last week. We’ve shredded them raw into salads and made gazpacho, and now for the slow cooker a warm beetroot salad, a recipe from my beloved Moro cookbook. The citrusy, fragrant addition this week has tiny delicate leaves and a big aroma – thyme.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time:  3 hours HIGH 6 hours LOW

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

1lb beetroot, scrubbed, remove top and tail

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup greek yoghurt

1 tbsp tahini (sesame paste)

squeeze lemon juice

1 tsp fresh thyme

Scrub the beetroot in cold water and cut off the top and bottom. Stand them in the bottom of your slow cooker.

Rub with the olive oil and sprinkle with thyme, salt and black pepper. Pour 1/2 inch of water into the bottom. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 hours.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl mix the yoghurt, tahini, lemon juice and thyme and season with salt and pepper.

Once the beetroot is cooked, use your fingers to rub the skin from the beetroot. It should slide away easily. Discard the skin and chop the beetroot into a large dice and add to the yoghurt mixture. Stir to coat the beetroot and serve in a bowl drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil. Serve with flatbreads as a stand along dish or add to a mezze with cheese, olives and falafel.

Zen Moment

“Those herbs which perfume the air most delightfully, not passed by as the rest, but, being trodden upon and crushed, are three; that is, burnet, wild thyme and watermints. Therefore, you are to set whole alleys of them, to have the pleasure when you walk or tread.”
– Frances Bacon