Saturday, September 11, 2010

Beetloaf

beet loaf

This is a favourite recipe I don't make often because I'm too lazy to do the grating required but it's filling, tasty, economical and, dare I say it, good for you. It's also just the sort of no-nonsense old fashioned vegetarian home cooking I crave from time to time.

The recipe makes a large loaf tin roast which can be served straight from the oven, eaten cold with bread or crackers or reheated in a sauce so despite making six good servings it's ideal for the single diner. I've never tried freezing it but I'm sure it would.

You will need:

250g grated potato (about one large, well scrubbed so no need to peel)
250g grated beetroot (about 2 medium. Scrub them well, no need to peel, trim the root end and use the leaf stem stubs to hold the root while you grate it)
150g finely chopped onion
100g fine breadcrumbs, wholemeal is best.(I used my coffee grinder to make mine!)
100g coarsely ground nuts - almonds, walnuts, cashews, whatever. (the grinder struggled here, and few nuts were left whole which was rather nice)
75g tahini (or peanut butter or if all else fails a tablespoon of oil)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
black pepper
2 tsps dried herbs (thyme, sage, mixed, de Provence) or the equivalent in fresh

Mix the vegetables, crumbs and nuts together. Dilute the tahini with the soy sauce and mix everything together with the pepper and herbs.

Bake in a well oiled loaf tin for about an hour at 180C. Line the bottom of the tin with a strip of oiled baking parchment if the turning out whole is important but usually you'll get away with it anyway. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn out to decorate in whatever retro fashion floats your boat. I've seen meatloaf recipes suggest masking in tomato sauce or ketchup even. Interesting.

I served mine with dutch oven steamed potatoes and leaf cabbage, dressed with an onion miso gravy.

7 comments:

jodye @ 'scend food said...

This sounds great! I can always use a new loaf recipe, and I've not once thought of using beets!

Anonymous said...

gosh, I never would of thought of using beets as the main star of a "meatloaf." Can't wait to try it.

VegInDenver said...

this looks awesome! My mom used to make meatloaf all of the time, but I haven't attempted a vegan version yet. I can't wait to try this recipe out.

River said...

I made your beetloaf! It was so beautiful and tasty! I had been wanting to make it ever since I saw it on foodgawker. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! :)

Emma said...

I made this tonight for dinner - so delicious! I'll be making it for my Christmas lunch :)

Catofstripes said...

Hello everyone, sorry, forgot I had left comment moderation on.

Thanks for all the kind comments, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

:-)

George Rager said...

awesome recipe... I made it for dinner last night. this is going to go into the "make regularly" category.