The Hackney Butchers Association

I was reminded recently about Beetroot Hummous (thanks Leila).  I had been meaning to make some for a while. A lot of recipes seem to mix roughly equal amounts of cooked beetroot and chick peas, with the usaual culprits, garlic, olive oil, tahini & lemon juice.  For maximum flavour use left-over roasted beetroot.  All well and good... but the recipe here is even better!  This recipe is quite different, the flavour comes from lots of toasted cumin & walnuts & garlic.  The slight bitterness of the walnuts with the sweetness of the beetroot makes a great balance.  This is rounded, delicious stuff. It looks amazing too.  It's insanely colorful as seen in the picture above. This has to be tried! RECIPE BELOW:

This is a fantastic way to spruce up lentils.  This is a satisfying dish with bags of flavour, it's very more-ish.  It has lots of cumin, coriander (cilantro) and garlic, so it's always going to be good!  Thankfully there is a little leftover of this batch for tomorrow. Phew.  It reheats really well, so can be made in advance and warmed up before serving.  Once cooked it will lst in the fridge for a few days. We had this tonight with some pan-fried fish, some beetroot, walnut & cannelini puree and some green beans.  It was awesome, if I do say so myself!... Don't forget to season it well at the end of cooking, it massively brings all the flavours to life. Oh, and if you know of any great lentil recipes please leave a comment below.  I'll try them out and post the results.  Thanks. FOR RECIPE CLICK BELOW:

Around October this starts to appear in the UK at the odd farmers market.  I'm yet to see it in a supermarket. It's really easy to cook and has a lovely nutty taste.  Like artichokes, they can discolour once peeled.   To avoid this, drop them into water with a little lemon juice in it, or just rub they directly in lemon juice. FOR RECIPES CLICK BELOW

This recipe came from a great blog I came across called Limepickle.com It is very simple and makes a great pickle!  I''ve not changed a thing other than to convert it into metric.  You could swap the limes for lemons.  Mmnnn pickles....

This is brilliant with grilled fish or chicken. Pictures will follow when I next cook it (which will be very soon... It's very easy and makes a great side-dish of onions without the time of roasting. All in all about 15mins, so good for mid week meals. If you can't get pomegranate molases, you can add a teaspoon or two of brown sugar instead, just keep stirring or it will burn. RECIPE BELOW: