Beetroot is not a vegetable I eat or cook alot but I decided I’d my hand at it yesterday. I’d recommend buying beetroot with their leaves intact (the price includes the leaves anyway) as the leafy greens can be made into a delicious dish too. I also do love its deep ruby red colour. The leaves’ dark green colour contrast nicely with the red streaks that are the veins and stems.

For the root, I sliced them into thin pieces, dizzled olive oil over them and topped it off with a few sprigs of dried rosemary. I then put the beetroot to roast in the oven at a high heat setting for about 30min.

I love roasting food when I have the time. The heat from this slow cooking method really brings out the flavour and aroma in food. Those aromas emanating from the oven really build up the anticipation to the point where you sink your teeth into the food. I’m pleased to report that beetroot goes really well with rosemary when roasted.

For the leaves and stems I had cut them up and had originally planned to use them in a salad. But the weather was cold and I didn’t want to eat cold food, so I chose instead to saute the leaves with minced garlic and olive oil, seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

I first put the minced garlic to cook in the olive oil on a low heat for a few minutes. In that way, the garlic could infuse into the oil. After that I tossed the leaves and stems in the pot and made sure they were coated with the oil. Easy and delicious!