Sometimes, it has to be quick! Whether you don’t have the time or energy to cook or simply don’t want to spend more than five minutes in the kitchen, this quick and easy beetroot curd recipe will make a wonderful spread on bread or a dip for boiled potatoes. If you have pickled beetroots in your pantry, it’ll be done even faster.
Beetroot curd
Ingredients
150 – 200g pre-cooked or pickled beetroots 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice 2 tbsp sour cream 1/2 apple 3 young herring filets 1 small onion 1/2 bunch of dill 100 g curd salt, pepper
Instructions
1. If you use precooked beetroots, chop them into squares. Mix half of them with the lemon juice and sour cream and blend them with a hand blender. If you use pickled beetroots, strain them through a colander. Mix half of them with the sour cream and blend them (leave off the lemon juice as they are already a bit sour due to the vinegar we used for pickling).
2. Cut the apple into quarters and remove its core. Chop it into small cubes and mix with the remaining beetroots and the blended mass.
3. Cut off the tails of the herring filets. Dab the filets dry and also chop them into small cubes. Peel the onion and finely dice it. Wash and dry the dill and chop its leaves.
4. Mix the curd with the beetroots and the onion to a homogenous mass. Fold in the herring and dill and season it all with salt and pepper.
You can make this spread in advance and keep it in the fridge where it can be stored for up to two days.
Beetroot curd
This quick and easy beetroot curd recipe will make a wonderful spread on bread or a dip for boiled potatoes. If you have pickled beetroots in your pantry, it'll be done even faster.
If you use precooked beetroots, chop them into squares. Mix half of them with the lemon juice and sour cream and blend them with a hand blender. If you use pickled beetroots, strain them through a colander. Mix half of them with the sour cream and blend them (leave off the lemon juice as they are already a bit sour due to the vinegar we used for pickling).
Cut the apple into quarters and remove its core. Chop it into small cubes and mix with the remaining beetroots and the blended mass.
Cut off the tails of the herring filets. Dab the filets dry and also chop them into small cubes. Peel the onion and finely dice it. Wash and dry the dill and chop its leaves.
Mix the curd with the beetroots and the onion to a homogenous mass. Fold in the herring and dill and season it all with salt and pepper.
You can make this spread in advance and keep it in the fridge where it can be stored for up to two days.
I harvested the first carrots and they smell and taste so good that usually I eat the first bunch of them raw. I love their sweet and earthy flavour, it’s delicious! However, it would be a pity to just eat them all up like that and not use them in some more elaborate recipes. One of my favourites with carrots is this easy recipe for carrot pizza.
How to make carrot pizza
Make a yeast pizza dough, put sour cream on it and coat it lavishly with carrots, herbs, onions and garlic. Top the pizza with cheese and bake it in the oven until it’s crisp and the cheese has melted. And voilà: a hearty and comforting dinner is ready to be served!
Even if you consider carrots bland, give this delicious meal a chance. The carrots taste even sweeter when cooked and the combination with sour cream, herbs, and salt makes this pizza a great dish for summer. It’s so tasty, I’m sure it’ll become your new favourite food.
Although I like it as a vegetarian dish, you could also put some bacon on it to add a smokey flavour. Either way, you’ll sure love this carrot pizza!
Recipe for Carrot Pizza
Ingredients (4 servings):
For the yeast dough
300 g flour 25 g fresh yeast or 3 g dried yeast 1 tsp salt 150 ml lukewarm water 2 tbsp olive oil
For the topping
450 g carrots 2 onions 1 clove of garlic 2 tbsp fresh thyme or 2 tsp dried thyme 200 g sour cream 4 tbsp olive oil salt pepper grated cheese (parmesan, mozzarella or emmentaler)
Instructions
1) Dissolve the yeast in the water and mix it with the flour, salt, and oil until it forms a smooth dough. Cover it and allow it to rise for 30 minutes.
2) In the meantime, clean the carrots, peel them, and cut them into thin slices. Peel the onions and cut them into slices, as well. Peel the garlic and dice it. Put some thyme aside for a garnish and chop the rest.
3) Mix garlic, carrots, onions, and chopped thyme with 2 tbsp oil and season it with salt and pepper.
4) Heat the oven to 250 degrees (fan: 230 degrees).
5) Roll out the dough and coat it with sour cream. Distribute the carrot mix evenly on the pizza and sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Bake it in the preheated oven for approx. 20 minutes. Garnish with the thyme and freshly ground pepper.
Carrot pizza
This carrot pizza makes for a hearty and comforting dinner.Even if you consider carrots bland, give this delicious meal a chance. The carrots taste even sweeter when cooked and the combination with sour cream, herbs, and salt makes this pizza a great dish for summer. It's so tasty, I'm sure it'll become your new favourite food.Although I like it as a vegetarian dish, you could also put some bacon on it to add a smokey flavour. Either way, you'll sure love this carrot pizza!
Dissolve the yeast in the water and mix it with the flour, salt, and oil until it forms a smooth dough. Cover it and allow it to rise for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, clean the carrots, peel them, and cut them into thin slices. Peel the onions and cut them into slices, as well. Peel the garlic and dice it. Put some thyme aside for a garnish and chop the rest.
Mix garlic, carrots, onions, and chopped thyme with 2 tbsp oil and season it with salt and pepper.
Heat the oven to 250°C / 480°F (fan: 230°C / 445°F).
Roll out the dough and coat it with sour cream. Distribute the carrot mix evenly on the pizza and sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Bake it in the preheated oven for approx. 20 minutes. Garnish with the thyme and freshly ground pepper.
I love lasagna! Not only the classic one (which is adorable!) but lasagna in every variety. It’s such a great dish to experiment with different vegetables, herbs, spices, sauces and flavours. Take the combination of spinach and lemon for example: they are a dream couple of their own but add a great bechamel sauce, cheese and herbs and layer all that with lasagna sheets. The result is a creamy and savoury main course with well-balanced tartness. You’ll love it as much as I do! Here’s the recipe of a tasty spinach lemon lasagna:
Spinach lemon lasagna
Admittedly, preparation time is a bit longer as you’ll have to blanch the spinach and mix it with different ingredients to make one part of the filling. Additionally, you’ll need a classic bechamel sauce which also needs some time to make. However, the wonderful taste of this spinach lemon lasagna rewards you for all the effort.
Ingredients
lasagna sheets 1/2 bunch of basil 1 quarter slice fermented lemon 4 tbsp 2 spring onions 300 g fresh spinach 400 g ricotta salt pepper 30 g butter 30 g flour freshly grated nutmeg 300 ml vegetable broth 300 ml milk 200 g grated cheese (parmigiano, gouda or similar)
Instructions
For the spinach-ricotta filling
1. Bring a pot of water to the boil. In the meantime, wash the spinach and blanch it for one minute in the boiling water. Drain in a sieve and rinse with cold water. Wash the spring onions and slice them.
2. Roughly chop the basil and the lemon and puree it in a food processor together with 3 tbsp olive oil.
3. In a bowl, mix the spinach and onions with ricotta and the basil-lemon puree. Add salt and pepper to taste but be careful with the salt as the lemons are salty already.
For the bechamel sauce
4. Melt the butter and slowly bend in the flour. Slowly add the vegetable broth while constantly stirring. Make sure that no lumps form! Add the vegetable broth and let it come back to the boil briefly. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste, add half of the grated cheese and stir until it’s melted.
Assemble the lasagna
5. Preheat the oven to 180 °C (fan oven: 160 °C). Grease an oven dish and layer lasagna sheets, spinach-ricotta mix and bechamel sauce in that order until the mix and the sauce are used up. The last layer is sauce. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the dish and bake it in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes.
