Beet it! Why beetroot is this summer’s barbecue menu must-have

The root is having a renaissance with the introduction of Tesco’s veggie burgers, adding a pop of colour to this season’s grills

Juicy, red, delicious and hot off the barbecue. Roll up, roll up, vegetarians, your burger is ready. This isn’t a carnivore’s intervention. The burger that is on everyone’s lips is made of beetroot and is more than welcome for non-meat-eaters fed up of filling up on salad at every summer party.

You know a trend – in this case, plant-heavy menus – has reached critical mass when the supermarkets get on board. In this case, Tesco is selling beetroot burgers at £2.25 for two and, according to reports, they’re selling like hot (veggie) cakes.

This, coupled with retail analyst Mintel’s finding that one in four of us are drastically reducing the amount of meat we eat, suggests that – finally – we’re getting the message about a healthier balance in our diets.

The easy spin is that young people (Mintel say they are the ones driving the change) are being swayed by the clean-eating “influencers”: the Hemsleys, Deliciously Ella et al. But the real influence is in places such as Pret a Manger, with its veggie fridges chock-a-block with funky salad boxes heavy on rich, earthy beetroot mashes. Grab-and-go green is a lot easier than setting up the spiralizer, dyeing your hands crimson and creating a lot of mess.

Restaurant chefs, too, have been pushing the agenda – Bruno Loubet was an early adopter with his plant-led London restaurant Grain Store and, in Bristol, Josh Eggleton has just transformed his Chicken Shed venue into Root, where vegetables are the stars and meat can be ordered as a side dish. There is beetroot on the seasonal menu, naturally, served with hazelnuts and blackberries – it sounds delicious.

That is not to say beetroot is only viable when made by someone else. Despite its earthy reputation, it is harvested in summer and is far more versatile than its roots – jarred in sinus-clearing malt vinegar – would suggest. It is sublime roasted in its skin, peeled and eaten warm with feta (see recipe below) or grated and made into rostis for brunch with a poached egg.

The very colour that makes it alarming for non-fans is one of beetroot’s best traits. Grated beetroot mixed with orange zest and handfuls of chopped herbs, makes a great cure for salmon, which is transformed to a deep purple and looks dazzling on a summer menu.

I made canapes for a dinner party a week ago using reduced beetroot juice to flavour and colour miniature meringues, topped with tiny cubes of balsamic-poached beetroot and shavings of goats cheese and almond. Inevitably, it’s great paired with stuff that would give the clean eaters an attack of the vapours. Yotam Ottolenghi pairs beetroot with maple syrup (see below), which is inspired. Dan Doherty of Duck and Waffle adds lashings of chilli and tempers it with soothing ricotta. Chef Ben Tish wrote Grill Smoke BBQ, a brilliantly comprehensive book on outdoor cooking (he even bakes a cake on his barbecue, but that’s another story). He puts foil-wrapped beetroot in the dying embers and picks up tender, smoky beets the next morning to make into a heady salad with oranges, chard and almonds.

If you have a steady hand, or one of those terrifyingly sharp but efficient mandolins (please, I beg you, use the hand guard), raw beetroot can be sliced super-thin and dressed with all manner of unguents to make a fancy vegetarian version of carpaccio.

If the taste of pure unadulterated beetiness is too much, consider the varieties that are steadily becoming more available. Golden beetroot is sweeter and less earthy than its red cousin; white is good for giving a stealthily healthy addition to a dish; and candy-striped beetroot is the prettiest of the bunch. If your supermarket is not selling it, seek out a farmer’s market – they will have tons of the stuff right now, the peak of the season.

But back to that barbecue. The Tesco beetburger sounds well worth trying – the ingredients include red rice, quinoa, coriander and cumin, so it is more than the soulless meat-substitute pucks of years gone by, made of compacted soya with a mealy texture.

Cheaper, too, than a steak, which is worth noting. British, sustainable, healthy, delicious, cheap – what’s not to love?

Personally, I would rather treat beetroot like a steak than mince – hewing a slab between two bits of bread – but I can see why the modern take on the burger is most commonly grated and mixed with breadcrumbs, egg and flavourings to make a patty. But vegetables such as beetroot don’t bind like protein and we all know the bitter barbecue fail that comes when the food falls between the bars on to the coals below (the Tesco burger does contain, on closer examination, the dreaded soya bean).

Necessary information for beetroot newcomers: invest in a box of those very thin latex gloves so your hands don’t resemble those of an abbatoir attendant after peeling. And, remember, the day after eating, that your ... bodily evacuations will look alarming. Do not rush to A&E. Instead, boast loudly about the fibre, betacarotine and folic acid you are ingesting. You can’t beet it.

My take on beetroot burgers

1 large raw beetroot
A glug of balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp creme fraiche
1 tsp horseradish cream
1 tsp fresh chopped dill
Salt and black pepper
2 ciabatta rolls
Olive oil
Rocket leaves

When the barbecue is first hot, loosely wrap the scrubbed raw beetroot in a sealed foil parcel, adding a large glug of balsamic vinegar. Put it at the edge of the coals for about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together the creme fraiche, horseradish, dill and salt and pepper to taste. Allow the flavours to mingle.

When the beetroot gives as you squeeze it through the foil, it is ready. Remove from the foil and cut a 2cm thick slab across the circumference. Halve the rolls and drizzle the insides with olive oil and toast on the barbecue. Assemble with rocket leaves, the beetroot slice and a healthy dollop of horseradish creme fraiche.

Beetroot and feta salad (adapted from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook)

500g beetroot
45ml maple syrup
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and bashed
Salt and pepper
1 pack feta cheese
Large bag of salad leaves
40g sunflower seeds

Wrap and roast the raw beetroot in the barbecue embers as in the previous recipe (but without vinegar). You can also roast the beetroot in a hot oven; try to get similar-sized beets so they cook evenly.

Meanwhile, combine the maple syrup, vinegar, oil, bashed garlic and salt and pepper with a vigorous stir and allow flavours to develop. Break the feta into bite-sized pieces by hand and toast the seeds.

When the beetroot feels soft, remove from the foil and peel with a cutlery knife – the skin should slide off. Discard the ends and cut beets into bite-sized chunks.

While still warm, top the salad leaves with the beetroot, feta cheese and sunflower seeds, then discard the garlic from the dressing and pour over.

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