Culture

Welcome to autumn everyone! In honour of this cold and colourful time of the year let’s make something warm and vibrant with some veggies from our local farmer’s market.

I confess I haven’t really cooked with either of these ingredients fresh before. I think of rainbow chard as one of those hipster Instagram superfoods. Hence why I had to try it. It’s just the coloured version of silver beet to be honest. This recipe was a trial run and a challenge to myself to use these ingredients (if I can do it, you can too). Hence why I kept it simple. My attempt had some room for improvement which I’ve adjusted for in this recipe.

So here it is, beetroot and rainbow chard tossed together with some potatoes and bacon. They had something similar at the Saturday Market Kitchen (the little truck with local chefs and free tasters) a few weeks back. The chef then also recommended making the whole beetroot plant stretch further by using the leaves. In my research I discovered you can also eat the beetroot stems by sautéing them. 

#zerowaste #foodefficinecy 

Ingredients:

• 3 beetroot 
• 6 small-medium potatoes
• 1 bunch of rainbow chard
• 250g bacon, diced 
• 1 tablespoon of Balsamic
• Vinegar
• Dried Thyme 
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons of water 
• 2 tablespoons of butter 
• 2 cloves of garlic

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Cut stems off beetroot (leave tops on) and scrub clean, and then cut the tops off. Put stems and leaves aside to use later.
3. Line an oven tray with foil and place water and balsamic vinegar on top. 
4. Place beetroot, cut side facing up, on foil. Season with salt, pepper and thyme. Place cut side facing down on foil. 
5. Cover with more foil and roast in oven for 40 minutes.
6. Dice potatoes to around 1 inch. Line another baking tray with foil to put potatoes on, place potatoes in, salt potatoes (no need to oil), cover with more foil and roast for 30-40mins.
7. Meanwhile, dice rainbow chard stems into half an inch and the leaves into thick strips. Strip beetroot leaves from stems. 
8. Sauté rainbow chard in butter and garlic, then add beetroot leaves. Take off from heat when soft. 
9. Place frying pan over medium heat and cook bacon until crispy.
10. Take bacon pieces off the pan. When potatoes are cooked through from the oven, fry them in the rest of the bacon fat. 
11. Dice beetroot into chunks when cooked. Toss the chard, beetroot leaves, beetroot, potatoes, and bacon all together. You can use some of the liquid from roasting the beetroot as a dressing.