Eating seasonally: Beetroot, thyme & Orange orzo

The Kitchen Garden is overflowing with produce right now… Lucy has been harvesting daily, and mostly is just roasting the vegetables in the oven to caramelise them and eating them whilst still warm over a bed of grains or with some salad leaves and a drizzle of olive oil.

Visitors to Howbury are regularly sent home with trug-fulls of fresh fruit and veg, including Cissy who popped down to take in the dahlias recently, and left with freshly harvested carrots, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, boysenberries and beetroot (and some dahlias, naturally…).

The earthy, sweet flavour of beetroot is evocative of Cissy’s summer holidays in Sweden where her grandma would simply boil it and serve it with melted butter and fresh crusty bread. But this time she decided to elevate things a little and turned to the inimitable Anna Jones and this vibrant pink one pot dinner. Perfect for those summer evenings that feel a bit more wet and windy than they really should at this time of year.

Anna Jones’ One-Pot Orzo with Beetroot, Thyme & Orange from One Pot Pan Planet

(serves 4)

Ingredients:
a bunch of beetroot (around 650g), peeled and grated
300g orzo pasta
a small bunch of thyme, leaves picked
3–4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons good olive oil, plus more for finishing
1⁄2 vegetable stock cube or 2 teaspoons stock powder

To serve:
zest of a small unwaxed orange or clementine
4 handfuls of rocket (I just used a bag of mixed lettuce I had in the fridge)
100g feta or vegan feta-style cheese, crumbled (optional)
a few handfuls of toasted chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts will all work well)
a drizzle of olive oil

Method:
Put the grated beetroot, pasta, thyme leaves, garlic and vinegar into a medium lidded pan with 1 teaspoon of sea salt, the 2 tablespoons of oil and 850ml water. Crumble in the stock cube or add the powder. Place the pan over a high heat, cover with a lid and bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes until the pasta is cooked and all the water has been absorbed.

Stir it every minute or so to make sure that the pasta doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan. If the orzo looks a little thick (you want it to be the consistency of risotto) add a little more hot water.

Spoon onto warm plates and finish with some orange zest, peppery leaves, a crumbling of feta (if using), some toasted nuts and a good drizzle of oil.

(Recipe taken from Anna Jones’ One Pot Pan Planet)