Ember-baked red onions and beetroot with tahini yogurt

Ember-baked red onions and beetroot with tahini yogurt

Autumn

If you haven’t cooked anything in the embers before, this might be a good recipe to try. Beetroot and onions are both fairly forgiving – although they may not like it if you turn your back on them for too long. They like to be tended to as they cook, so you’ll need to be on hand to turn them and to keep an eye on the fire. Give them a little time and they will reward you with textures and flavours you just can’t emulate in the oven.

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 6–8 small–medium beetroot (beets), with the leafy tops if possible
  • 4 small red onions
  • a good sprinkle of chilli flakes
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
  • 1 teaspoon black onion seeds
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the tahini yogurt

  • 300ml (10½fl oz) full-fat natural (plain) yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons tahini paste
  • 1 small garlic clove, grated or crushed to a paste
  • a handful of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • a good pinch of sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

Method

First, make the tahini yogurt. Put the yogurt into a bowl with all the other ingredients and mix well. If it thickens up too much, add a spoonful or two of water and stir that in.

Prepare your fire. It needs to burn back a nice, hot bed of glowing embers.

Give the beetroot (beets) a scrub if they need it, but don’t peel them. Arrange the whole onions (with their skin on) and the beetroot over the hot embers, and cook them for 35–45 minutes, turning them regularly as they cook. The beetroot and onion skins will begin to char and blister and the beetroot tops will smoke and burn – don’t worry, it’s a sign they’re cooking inside. If the fire seems too ferocious, move the vegetables to a slightly cooler area, or disperse the embers a little. You’ll be able to tell when the veg are ready because they will feel tender when pierced with a knife.

When everything is cooked, lift the vegetables out of the fire to a board and allow them to cool for 5 minutes. Use a sharp knife (I find a serrated knife works well) to halve the soft onions from root to tip. Careful, they’ll be hot. Lift the soft onion flesh from the charred outer leaves and back on to the board, or place them in a bowl. Cut the beetroot in half from top to bottom; or, if they’re a little larger, slice them into thick rounds. Gently tumble them together with the onion halves, chilli flakes, extra-virgin olive oil, black onion seeds, vinegar and plenty of salt and black pepper.

Spoon the tahini yogurt out over a large plate or shallow bowl. Pile on the ember-baked veg, trickle with a little more extra-virgin olive oil and serve.

Back to Membership