It is summer, apparently. I am looking out of the window now to a dull and overcast day. A wind keeps whipping up, there is the occasional spatter of angry sounding rain and the air is damp, but still surprisingly warm. When the weather is like this, it can be hard to know what to eat. I never want anything too heavy in the summer months – I had a carb laden pub lunch yesterday which knocked me out for the rest of the afternoon. So salads feature quite heavily in my summer repertoire. This is not the type of dish most people would associate with pressure cooking, but if you are regularly making salads with cooked elements – as I am, daily – then the pressure cooker is invaluable, especially when the thermostat rises and you want to keep your kitchen cool.
I love the look of your salad, and the thought of beetroot and blackberries is a beautiful and intriguing one. I need to find some blackberries here...
From living in Russia, I learned to love beetroot in all guises, but especially with smoked fish and horseradish as you describe. I also loved it just tossed in sour cream with lots of dill and sometimes some walnuts. Though this might not pass your pwpto bismol test...
When I was growing up in the north east, beetroot sandwiches (pickled beetroot) were called pitman's beef, as they were popular with miners. Substantial, filling, but a lot cheaper than meat.
I’ve just put some beetroot on to cook. They were a mixed bunch, mostly medium to large so will cook on hp for 10 minutes and fast release. If the larger ones need longer I’ll give them a couple of extra minutes. Some of mine are going in an apple and beetroot salad but the rest I will use in the salad in your blog. Sounds great.
Yes to cooking root veg in the pressure cooker, which I have been doing thanks to your two excellent books Catherine. Just this week I cooked some black beans in the PC and had both beetroots and potatoes (whole) in a trivet over the beans and the whole lot cooked in 10 minutes at pressure, natural release. It's now the only way I cook sweet potatoes too - I enjoy them steamed more so than roasted, a similar fashion to the Japanese. Keep up the great work.
Wish I could like beetroot that at kohlrabi are the only veg i struggle with. I have a request for a future substack I love your thermos instagram posts although I'm often alarmed at the very short cook times! Given more people are having to go to the office and don't want to or can't afford the sandwich shops it would be useful for more than those of us that have to do a kids thermos during termtime.
Lovely newsletter C! My family just can’t manage to love beetroot although if it’s served with something creamy they’ll tolerate it. The curry sounds intriguing - perhaps they’d like that one. Also a lovely idea to cook a batch of grains at the start of the week and use it in all sorts. I go through phases of doing it and must get back to it. Xx
I also noticed you hadn't covered beetroot in your book, but I worked it out..5 minutes, perfect and it's so satisfying to remove the skins. I hope you can get past your bright pink aversion. Having recently returned from Riga & Vinuis, pink soup is everywhere and it's become my favourite thing to make. It's so delicious, tangy and refreshing, and apart from the beetroot, (and boiling an egg for topping) no other cooking involved. Lithuania even has its own pink soup festival.
"It is summer, apparently". Yes! Wooly socks and fleece on here...
But beetroot are excelent and sadly has a poor rap. I just harvested a huge bunch from the garden: all were sizes ranging from 2oz to 2 lbs. I made a guess and processed largest first to smallest seqentially and they were all lovely and tender (even the monster one). I used to boil them before I started pressure cooking (BPC) and hubby would ask if I was boiling dirt. No issue with PC - another selling point! Just wear gloves to handle them and rinse the cutting board straight away.
I like to add them to green salads but they go off before we can eat it all, so I do a sweet pickle (have sugar, half vinegar, with a bit of candied ginger in the vinegar solution) and jar them up. Pickle-phobe hubby loves them - not too vinegary so hy don't overwhelm the greens. And I also made loads of borscht and freeze batches. This summer seems more of a hot soup summer to me...
I love the look of your salad, and the thought of beetroot and blackberries is a beautiful and intriguing one. I need to find some blackberries here...
From living in Russia, I learned to love beetroot in all guises, but especially with smoked fish and horseradish as you describe. I also loved it just tossed in sour cream with lots of dill and sometimes some walnuts. Though this might not pass your pwpto bismol test...
When I was growing up in the north east, beetroot sandwiches (pickled beetroot) were called pitman's beef, as they were popular with miners. Substantial, filling, but a lot cheaper than meat.
I’ve just put some beetroot on to cook. They were a mixed bunch, mostly medium to large so will cook on hp for 10 minutes and fast release. If the larger ones need longer I’ll give them a couple of extra minutes. Some of mine are going in an apple and beetroot salad but the rest I will use in the salad in your blog. Sounds great.
Yes to cooking root veg in the pressure cooker, which I have been doing thanks to your two excellent books Catherine. Just this week I cooked some black beans in the PC and had both beetroots and potatoes (whole) in a trivet over the beans and the whole lot cooked in 10 minutes at pressure, natural release. It's now the only way I cook sweet potatoes too - I enjoy them steamed more so than roasted, a similar fashion to the Japanese. Keep up the great work.
Wish I could like beetroot that at kohlrabi are the only veg i struggle with. I have a request for a future substack I love your thermos instagram posts although I'm often alarmed at the very short cook times! Given more people are having to go to the office and don't want to or can't afford the sandwich shops it would be useful for more than those of us that have to do a kids thermos during termtime.
This is a keeper for sure, and I'm looking forward to attempting that curry. Two questions:
Could the beetroot not be cooked with the tomato sauce?
And do you think this might work with chickpeas instead of paneer?
Thank you, Catherine!
Lovely newsletter C! My family just can’t manage to love beetroot although if it’s served with something creamy they’ll tolerate it. The curry sounds intriguing - perhaps they’d like that one. Also a lovely idea to cook a batch of grains at the start of the week and use it in all sorts. I go through phases of doing it and must get back to it. Xx
I also noticed you hadn't covered beetroot in your book, but I worked it out..5 minutes, perfect and it's so satisfying to remove the skins. I hope you can get past your bright pink aversion. Having recently returned from Riga & Vinuis, pink soup is everywhere and it's become my favourite thing to make. It's so delicious, tangy and refreshing, and apart from the beetroot, (and boiling an egg for topping) no other cooking involved. Lithuania even has its own pink soup festival.
"It is summer, apparently". Yes! Wooly socks and fleece on here...
But beetroot are excelent and sadly has a poor rap. I just harvested a huge bunch from the garden: all were sizes ranging from 2oz to 2 lbs. I made a guess and processed largest first to smallest seqentially and they were all lovely and tender (even the monster one). I used to boil them before I started pressure cooking (BPC) and hubby would ask if I was boiling dirt. No issue with PC - another selling point! Just wear gloves to handle them and rinse the cutting board straight away.
I like to add them to green salads but they go off before we can eat it all, so I do a sweet pickle (have sugar, half vinegar, with a bit of candied ginger in the vinegar solution) and jar them up. Pickle-phobe hubby loves them - not too vinegary so hy don't overwhelm the greens. And I also made loads of borscht and freeze batches. This summer seems more of a hot soup summer to me...
Lovely suggestions. Very taken by the blackberry idea - have spotted that they're starting to ripen near me so must get picking!