Pickled Beetroot

After cleaning up and digging over The Cabbage Patch last week, I finally picked a few of the beetroot leftover. They were particularly small as when they original plug plants arrived, it said ‘20’, so I carefully counted them out and planted. Now, what ‘"20’ actually meant, was ‘20 bunches of plants’ so, actually, there were about 100 beetroot, but which I planted in groups of 5. Does any of that make sense? So, I ended up with rather a lot of tiny little beets and very few larger ones, although I did weed out a few to help some on their way!

Not one to let things go to waste, as testified by the fact that the secret room is full of rubbish that ‘might just come in useful’, I quickly boiled them. Now, I also took advantage of the fact that we still have the carpets in the house form when we moved in and the one in the lounge is, what can only be described as, beetroot red. So, I sat on the floor in front of the fire with a knife, a big bowl and some kitchen paper to peel them.

Having made pickles and chutneys before, I  unstuck when it attempting to pickle whole things: Did I have to use pickling vinegar or would normal malt do the trick? The answer was actually neither here nor there as I knew I had never bought pickling vinegar in my life, and was fairly certain there was not enough malt left to cover the beetroot, so I determined to ask a friend at school who does much pickling!

Her response was that moral malt would do the trick, but if I added a dash of balsamic vinegar, for its flavour rather than its preservative qualities, it was add a little something else.  arrived home with half an hour to spare before going to the last and final ‘Come Dine’, and quickly sterilised the jar, tipped the beetroot in, filled with malt vinegar and a dash of balsamic, sealed and heated. Phew. I also prepared a a Featherblade Steak stew for husband and popped it in the oven before heading off out: It’s amazing how much you can get done if you really try!

I haven’t tasted them yet, but how bad could they be?!