Yotam Ottolenghi’s beetroot recipes for autumn

Whether it’s raw, roasted, baked or stewed, it’s time to get with the beet

Yotam Ottolenghi
Saturday 30 September 2017 09.00 BST

Beetroot can be a bit divisive. Depending on how you look at it, its deep purple colour is bold and beautiful or, quite literally, a bleeding nuisance. Its smell and earthy taste are just as controversial: “It tastes of soil,” say those who think that’s a bad thing. “It tastes of soil,” say those who think it’s a good thing.

Predictably, I side with the latter. I love beetroot, because it tastes of the earth and its colour makes total sense at this time of the year. What I’d love even more, though, is for its range and versatility to be more accepted, so it was less divisive in the first place. Purple beetroot are still the most widely available, but look out for other varieties, too: the pretty pink-and-white-striped ones, say, or golden bulbs that carry much less potential to stain...