As I inched my way through dark the days of the
start of a new year, gradually then fairly rapidly losing to the monotony of
dry January, dragging myself out on some very short and very slow post-Christmas
laps of the park, and generally being miserable. I decided to put a bit of
colour in my life (and my pee) with some beetroot.
Now beetroot is something people tell me is great,
so I buy it. Then unceremoniously throw it away 2 weeks later. This Zhuzhuary
however, on day 13 of my beetroot's normal journey to the bin I made the jump
and came up with something I think is quite special.
Now I had this Beetroot hummus with a butterflied
chicken breast, however it can be used in so many ways (dips, sandwiches,
kebabs etc) and will keep in the fridge for about 5 days after making.
4
Beetroot
(Uncooked
- although if buying precooked get the non pickled versions)
Thyme
2
Lemon
1
Clove Garlic
1
Tin of Chickpeas
Teaspoon
of Cumin
Bunch
of fresh corriander
150mls
Olive Oil
- If you have raw beetroot preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Take your beetroot whole (no need to peel) and place on a sheet of
tin foil with half a lemon, a drizzle of olive oil the thyme and some salt
and pepper.
- Wrap them up in the foil and stick in the oven for about 1hour (if a knife goes into them with a small amount of resistance they're done.
- When cooked place them in a bowl of cold water and peel or scrape
them with a knife or peeler.
- Get out a food processor (hand blender will work but may just take
a bit longer and be a little messier).
- Add all the chickpeas (+half the water from the tin), beetroot,
garlic cumin and olive oil as well as a decent lick of salt and pepper and
blend until hummus like texture.
- Taste and season with as much lemon juice as you want (I used a
whole lemon with a bit of zest (if using zest ensure unwaxed you are using
unwaxeds lemon)).
- This is then ready to eat.
- To make the chicken I butterflied a chicken breast* sprinkled with
some dried cumin and paprika and cooked on a hot George Foreman grill
(other pieces of 90's cooking machinery are available).
Serve with some nice full fat Greek yogurt and a
drizzle of olive oil and some lemon juice.
*Some butchery tips and kitchen knife lessons will
be coming soon.
A Thirstyman
This is a humdinger of a Hungry Man recipe and it
poses a number of questions for the Thirsty Man. What wine to pair with
beetroot that can also stand up to lemon, and yoghurt, and thyme. And chicken?!
In cases like this, it’s important to let the big
ingredients have their moment in the spotlight, so don’t try and fight the
beetroot with a punchy floral wine, or the yoghurt with an oaked chardonnay.
Here, simplicity and elegance is key. My thoughts turn to a couple of white
wines, all of which display a little of what winos call ‘minerality’.
Minerality is a non-fruity, non-spicy, non-herbal
note in wine that tastes and or smells like wet rocks, or gravel in the rain. I
know, not the most appealing thought when tucking into dinner, is it?! Wine
language travels so poorly that what the word is really trying to express is a
wine which displays elements of the terroirs or soil the vines
are grown in, and for this I have chosen two very different wines which should
help to cleanse and refresh the palate after each mouthful of A Hungry Man’s
exceptional dish:
Dragon Langhe Bianco, Luigi Baudana 2016
Piedmont is my favourite wine region in the world
and I love the red wines made with its nebbiolo grapes. A couple of years ago I
thought I’d try a Piedmont white alongside a red and this is what I came up
with. This wine has a mix of good, clean acidity and a hint of citrus with a
very light floral bouquet. Don’t serve this wine ice cold or else you’ll only
taste the citrus notes – instead, serve it is tad closer to room temperature
than your normal bottle of Blue Nun and it should help elevate
the beetroot, thyme and yoghurt in the dish, without getting into a street
fight with it. At £10.50 from the wine society, it’s a no-brainer.
Rustenberg Chardonnay 2015
When the Decanter World Wine awards come out each
year, I love skipping to the back of the edition and finding out which
supermarket Davids have slain the world of wine’s Goliaths. Lidl, M&S and
Waitrose, as well as all the others, always win a clutch of awards and so I
like to buy them and try them for myself. This Rustenburg Chardonnay 2015 won a
silver medal and is a fantastic offering, perfect for A Hungry Man’s butterfly
chicken with beets. It has a lovely refreshing nose of lemon and a hint of
butter with white fruit, a hint of oak, and some lovely refreshing minerality
on the palate. The light oak and structure to the wine will stand up well to
the chicken and thyme. This isn’t strictly the clean, fresh & mineral wine
I was aiming for when I first started writing this article, but I think it’d
stand up really well to the food and its only £13.99 – a bargain!
Happy drinking!