Nigel Slater's beetroot and summer carrots recipes | Food (2024)

Young, sweet vegetables are not suitable for grating, ending up as wet pulp. Slices, dice and wedges work much better, but I've recently been using really small vegetables whole: baby beetroots, boiled, tossed with goat's curd; whole carrots tossed with melted butter, lemon juice and grated orange zest, or steamed and rolled in toasted sesame seeds and roasted sesame oil.

Bunches of finger carrots, sporting their froth of green leaves, always look better in the shopping basket than they do in the kitchen. I tend to devour them raw, but this week I steamed a couple of bunches then let them cook for five minutes more in a thin sauce made from crème fraîche, basil, dill and parsley. Piled aside thin slices of cold ham they were so good I made them again the next day to accompany a spinach tart.

Summer root vegetables have a charm all of their own, a lightness of flavour and diminutive size that would tempt even the most determined beetroot refusenik. So small, so cute, you could eat them like sweets.

Beetroot with soy-citrus

Anyone who likes cooked beetroot, but isn't fond of it pickled, may like to try this way with them. The salad has some of the crisp, acidic flavour of a good pickle, but is infinitely more mellow. I had intended this to be a side dish, but it is so good, it became the focus of a light lunch with smoked salmon and rye bread. Lovely fresh flavours here, and a good introduction to beetroot for the uninitiated.

For the dressing:
ginger, freshly grated 1 tsp
orange juice 125ml
lemon juice 3 tbsp
dark soy 3 tsp
small, red chilli 1
sherry vinegar 1 tbsp

Scrub the beetroot and trim its leaves, without tearing the skin, then either boil or bake till tender to the point of a knife. To bake, set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6, place the beetroots on a sheet of foil, pour over a glug of mild cooking oil then close the foil loosely over them. Bake for 40 minutes or so, depending on the size of your beets, till you can insert a skewer easily into them. To boil them, drop the beetroots into boiling, unsalted water and simmer, partially covered, for 20-30 minutes till tender.

Make the dressing: put the grated ginger in a mixing bowl, pour in the orange and lemon juices then add the soy sauce. Halve, seed and finely slice the red chilli, then add a little of it to the dressing with the sherry vinegar, and mix well. Check for balance – it should be sweet, sour and fruity. Add more soy or juice, or chilli as you wish. I find that barely half a small chilli is enough. Spoon the dressing over the sliced beetroot and leave for a few minutes before serving.

Summer carrots, herb sauce

A bunch of young carrots doesn't last long in this house. Munched like sweets, they often go before I even have time to rinse them. The usual cooking method is to steam them and toss them in butter and chopped parsley. Nothing wrong with that, but this way is much more interesting.

Wipe or rinse the carrots, but don't peel them, then place them in a steamer basket or colander set over a pan of boiling water. Steam for 7-10 minutes till tender, but not soft. If you prefer to boil them in lightly salted water, do so, then drain them.

Peel and very finely chop the shallot. Remove the leaves from the basil and parsley and discard the stems, then chop them, quite finely, together with the dill fronds. You should have a couple of good handfuls of chopped herbs. Put the crème fraîche into a saucepan large enough to take the carrots in a single layer, add the herbs and the lemon juice and bring to the boil. Season with black pepper and a little salt, then add the drained, whole carrots. Leave to simmer for a couple of minutes with the occasional stir, taking care not to break the carrots up. Serve immediately.