I’ve always loved beetroot and I was going to make my tried and tested beetroot and goat’s cheese salad with this week’s supply. Oven-roasted, thinly sliced and topped with a little soft goat’s cheese, some toasted walnuts or hazelnuts and a few thyme leaves, walnut oil dressing since you ask : ). However, one of my friends asked me if I’d thought of trying beetroot hummus for a change? Try it? I’d never heard of it, let alone thought of trying it.

So, thanks to Ruth, I whipped up a dish of this crazy coloured concoction. Not only does it look amazing, but the flavour is just wonderful and so unusual. I served it at as part of a summer starter with a selection of raw veg and pitta bread and there was an unseemly scramble to polish off the lot.

You will need…

• A bunch of uncooked beetroots – a standard bunch is about 1lb or 400g
• 2 tablespoons of good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of sesame (tahini) paste
• 2 cloves of garlic crushed to a paste with some sea salt
• Juice of a lemon
• A 400g tin of chickpeas, drained
• Extra sea salt for seasoning at the end
• A pinch of chilli flakes

To make…

• Remove the leaves from the beetroot and roast them in a sealed foil parcel on a baking sheet in a hot oven (200°C) for about 40 minutes. Remove it from the oven and, once cooled, peel off the skin. If they are cooked properly, they should just slip off. Wear rubber gloves or your hands will get covered in purple beet juice. I put all the skin etc. in the foil and dispose of it so as not to stain worktops too.
• Add all of the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Taste it for seasoning. Add a little more lemon, tahini, salt or olive oil to balance it out if you need to, but the proportions I’ve given here really should give a good flavour and a smooth and silky texture.
• Let it chill in the fridge and allow the flavours to develop for at least an hour before serving. I sprinkled a little roasted, ground cumin and a drizzle of extra oil on top. A crumbling of feta cheese or some chopped chives would also look attractive.

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