Have you, like Liz Hurley, been making marmalade this week? The Seville orange season comes and goes in the blink of an eye, but if you’ve managed to fill 47 (or more) jars and lay up some tart-sweet goodness for the rest of the year, you may need suggestions about what to do with it beyond just spreading it on toast. Step forward Shirley Spear’s The Three Chimneys Marmalade Bible. It contains not only guidelines for marmalade-making but also her famous Hot Marmalade Pudding recipe and savoury dishes, too.
This winter recipe is tangy, earthy and warming all-at-once. What’s more, it will only use two precious tablespoonfuls of your darkly glowing stash.
Roasted Beetroots with Marmalade
by Shirley Spear
You can be baking or cooking other items in the oven while the beets cook gently on a low shelf. They will come to no harm if the oven is at a lower temperature but take a bit longer to tenderise. Plan whatever is most convenient. Once cooked, the beets will keep refrigerated in a container for 1 week and can be used hot or cold. Serve as an accompaniment for roast ham, pork or duck.
- 500g (1lb 2oz) raw beets, a mixture of colours if possible
- A bunch of fresh thyme
- 2 tbsp Seville orange marmalade
- 50g (2oz) butter
- 2 heaped tsp horseradish sauce
- Salt and pepper
Wash the beets, remove the stems and leaves. Place the whole beetroot in a roasting tin, lined with foil. Add enough water to cover the base of the tin to a depth of 5mm. Scatter sprigs of thyme on top. Cover with a sheet of foil and bake on a low shelf in a pre-heated oven, 90ºC/375ºF/gas 5, for at least 1 hour until the beets are tender. Remove from the oven, discard the sprigs of thyme and leave the beets to cool. Turn the oven temperature up to 220ºC/425ºF/gas 7 for glazing.
Melt the marmalade, butter and horseradish sauce in a saucepan. Peel and cut the cooled beetroot into wedges or thick slices. Return to the roasting tin, re-lined with a clean sheet of foil. Pour the melted glaze over the beetroot and turn the beetroot in the glaze until well coated. Season with salt and pepper. Return to a high shelf in a hot oven. Cook for a further 20 minutes until glazed and sizzling hot.
from The Three Chimneys Marmalade Bible (2016)
