Those of you familiar with how Yotam Ottolenghi treats a beetroot might not be too impressed with the simplicity of Peter’s supper dish. But this is how Peter liked his beetroot and who are we to diss it? It’s a very simple, homely vegetarian dish and I had a huge frying pan of it to eat up last week. This was inspired by a trip to the Peter Cushing pub in Whitstable:
Sporting my new HOLIDAY DUNGAREES
Where appropriately enough, they serve Vincent Price Ale:
So I rustled up Peter’s beetroot supper dish, and on day one had it with a poached egg (overcooked) on top.
On day two I had some inside a very buttery omelet. I asked myself “what would Ottolenghi do?” and added some Ras-al-hanout and some spring onions:
On day three I had some alongside a portion of Diana Rigg’s Goulash
and on day four, with some Donald Pleasance’s No-Name Curry from the freezer:
Yes, that is an odd combination but I am a freaky eater!
The four day beetroot and onion marathon mostly happened as there is no room in either of my freezers. They are so packed with bits and bobs of leftovers that no more can go in. Hence I am taking a leaf out of Heather and Nathan’s book. They just eat stuff until it is gone. Rather than doing what I usually do. Eat one portion, freeze the rest, then cook something else the next day, resulting in more stuff to freeze, then cook something else the next day, resulting in more stuff to freeze AD INFINITUM.
Eating stuff until it is gone is the way forward… By the way, I don’t want you to think I live in some kind of RANCH like the Pioneer Woman.
I only have two freezers due to the aforementioned lunacy of my cooking mayhem. When I was single, I decided to buy an overflow freezer and it is tucked under my kitchen counter. Groaning at the seams…
Here’s Peter’s simple recipe – I’ve found the book this originally appeared in on the internet (Living Without Cruelty by Lorraine Kay) and it is on its way to me now. Hoping for more movie star recipes…
Peter Cushing’s Beetroot and Onion Supper Special
4-6 medium beetroots, cooked
2 sticks celery, scrubbed
2 large onions, roughly chopped or 8-10 pickling onion, whole
2 large potatoes, pre-boiled for 10 minutes
Sunflower oil
Freshly Ground black pepper
Dice the beetroot and finely slice the celery. In a large pan saute the onion until just turning brown. Add the beetroot and celery. Turn down the heat and cook for 2 minutes. Chop the potatoes into chunks and add to the pan. Season with pepper. Cover and cook on a very low heat until the potato is tender, stirring every few minutes to prevent sticking.
YUM! I was a childhood fan of all the Hammer horror classics and BEETS are maybe my second most favorite vegetable (right behind PUMPKIN)! Peter Cushing and beets???…this looks delicious and is a MUST TRY real soon for our house!
I’m not so convinced about all your variations that followed…but I’m not too good with leftovers anyway. Like you, I’d rather whip up something new each night. Fortunately, Alex is big on raiding the refrigerator multiple times a day and very good about finishing off all the leftovers…because there’s no room left in my freezer either!
The Peter Cushing Pub looks like fun!
The Peter Cushing pub is so cute! Well, it’s a BIG pub and there are great big pics of Peter above the bar. We love it.
There is a really good recipe for beetroot by William Powell but I see from a quick browse, I made his dish in the very early days and didn’t post the recipe. Must rectify that!
My fridge is FULL of leftovers at the moment, plus I’m planning to get a new BIG fridge very soon so I gotta work my way through everything that is in the current one PLUS everything in the freezer compartment. Oof!