Seasonal local food recipe No.371 – Nigel’s baked beetroot with seeded ricotta

If we hadn’t already used our beetroot I’d be tempted by this recipe featured in today’s Observer magazine.

Serves 4 as a side dish

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients
4 medium-sized beetroot
12 sprigs thyme
4 sprigs rosemary
4 bay leaves
3 tbsp olive oil
200g ricotta cheese
1 small orange
1 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
3 tbsp parsley, chopped

Method
Bring a large, deep saucepan of water to the boil and salt it generously.  Scrub and trim the beetroots, taking care not to pierce the skin. Boil them whole and unpeeled for 40-45 minutes until they are fully tender.  You should be able to pierce them effortlessly with a skewer.

Heat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.  Put the ricotta in a mixing bowl.  Finely grate the zest ot the orange and add to the ricotta with the hemp and pumpkin seeds and the chopped parsley.  Season with a little salt and a few twists of black pepper.

Place a large piece of kitchen foil in a roasting tin.  When the beetroots are tender, remove them from the water, peel off the skins – they should come away easily – then place the beetroots on the foil. Put the sprigs of thyme and rosemary and the bay in a mixing bowl.  Add a little salt and black pepper, then pour in the olive oil.  Toss the seasonings and oil together then spoon over the beetroots.

Loosely scrunch the edges of the foil together to make a parcel around the beetroots, then bake for about 45 minutes. Remove the roasting tin from the oven, unwrap the foil, then put the beetroots on a serving plate.  Slice them open and place generous spoonfuls of the seeded ricotta mixture on each one.

Seasonal local food recipe No.307 – Squash, ricotta and sage pasta bake

My husband found this recipe on the BBC Good Food website.  It was tasty served with a green salad on the side.

Serves 6

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients
1 squash, weighing about 1kg, chopped into chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
200 ml tub crème fraiche
50 g finely grated parmesan cheese
250 g tub ricotta cheese
small bunch sage leaves, half chopped, half whole
12 sheets fresh lasagne

Method
Heat the oven to 220°C/Gas mark 7.  Toss the squash together with the olive oil in a roasting tin.  Roast the squash for 30 minutes until soft and golden.  While the squash is roasting, mix the crème fraiche with half the parmesan, then set aside.

When the squash is ready, leave to cool slightly, then peel the skin away from the flesh.  In a separate bowl beat the ricotta with the chopped sage and the remaining parmesan and fold through the squash with some seasoning, trying not to break it up too much.

Assemble the bake by spreading a little of the crème fraiche mix over a gratin dish.  Then lay some of the lasagne sheets over and splodge some of the ricotta and squash mix over the pasta with more crème fraiche.  Use all the ricotta mix to fill the bake, but make sure you keep some crème fraiche for the top.

Finally spread the crème fraiche over the top layer of lasagne, then scatter with the whole sage leaves.  Bake for 25 minutes until bubbling and golden, then serve cut into squares.