Goat's Cheese Pannacotta with Beetroot Sorbet, Chocolate Macaron filled with Dark Chocolate and Orange Ganache and Walnut Praline

For the last dish of the week I went out on my own and created this dessert as the grand finale. As with the previous dish the three key flavours were beetroot, goat's cheese and walnuts. In addition to these I added two more flavours that I believe work amazingly, and perhaps somewhat surprisingly, with beetroot - orange and chocolate. With the goat's cheese pannacotta it is important to balance the sweetness with the tartness of the goat's cheese. It is also important to use the right amount of gelatine so it holds together but is not rubbery. I would definitely advocate the use of leaves as opposed to powder. As with the pannacotta, the sweet balance is vital to the sorbet. I did add a dash of red wine vinegar, but also a decent amount of sugar to help bring beetroot into the realm of dessert. The macarons themselves were not a roaring success which was disappointing after making a perfect batch a few weeks ago. However, the chocolate orange ganache was sublime. I added a healthy amount of orange rind to the cream, while heating the cream before adding 70% cocoa dark rich chocolate and then refrigerating until thick.

I absolutely loved this dessert with everything working so well together - far beyond what I expected. I started each mouthful with a bite of the slightly chewy macaron, with the rich chocolate orange ganache oozing out. Then combining a spoonful of the ever so slightly tart goat's cheese pannacotta, crunchy walnut praline with the ice cold, smooth rich beetroot sorbet I put all the flavours together. As they swirl around your tastebuds each flavour links with another all working together contrasting and complementing each other. All thoughts of that beetroot-stained, greasy burger with the lot were wiped out and forgotten with every last morsel in my mouth.

Beetroot Risotto with Goat's Cheese and Walnuts

For the final two dishes of the week I am going to try and illustrate the versatility of beetroot as an ingredient. It blends with an amazing array of flavours and two of the best matches are goat's cheese and walnuts. I am going to carry these across the two dishes, but with two very different outcomes. The first dish of risotto with goat's cheese and walnuts is a visually spectacular dish, the bright red of the beets stains the rice and sits in contrast to the creamy white of the scattered goat's cheese. This dish is a great step away from a more traditional risotto. The beets are wrapped individually in foil, along with a dash of olive oil and salt. Once they are tender they are peeled and diced. A handful can be processed and added to the stock, which gives the risotto that brilliant red. The remainder are cooked for a few minutes with some red wine vinegar and white sugar in a pan to enhance the beets' sweetness and acidity. Once the risotto is nearly done, stir the remaining chopped beets through the risotto and scatter the goat's cheese and roasted walnuts across the risotto. The key to this dish lies in the delicious sweet explosions of beetroot alternated with the tartness of the goat's cheese. The crunch and nutty flavour of the walnuts sets off perfectly against the creamy risotto. Go easy on the parmesan if you usually use it, as the goat's cheese needs to shine through for this dish to work.

Borscht

This classic eastern European dish can be served both hot and cold. There are many variations on a theme, however the essential focus in many of the versions is the balance of the sweetness of the beets with acidity from lemon juice or vinegar. This version was finished with a spoonful of sour cream which added a touch more acidity, and set it off visually against that brilliant rich red from the beets.

Rotolo of beetroot leaves and ricotta

So the first dish of the week is going to use a part of the beetroot which you may never have tried. The leaves of beetroot are also known as Swiss chard, which is from the same family as what we know as silverbeet. With a taste similar to spinach it works with cuisines in many of the same ways. However, the slight difference in flavour provides a new twist on well worn flavour combination. This was my first attempt at a rotolo, which is cooked in an interesting way by wrapping in a tea towel and poaching in a baking dish filled with water in the oven. The ricotta is lightly browned in the oven before adding to the filling, bringing a wonderful caramelized flavour to the dish. There is a large amount of marjoram in the dish which I was cautious of initially. However, its wonderful floral scent marries perfectly with the nutty brown butter sauce and hint of nutmeg, drawing you in to have a taste. Then its slightly sweet taste brings out the earthy flavours of the chard though the rich ricotta. The recipe is in the comments section courtesy of Tobie Puttock.

Beetroot

This week's ingredient is...BEETROOT! Ok, so I may have lost half the audience with the first sentence, but stick with me. Beetroot to many Australians is the iconic ingredient in the local takeaway classic - burger with the lot. A slice of bland, over-sweetened beetroot slapped between a Tip Top bun along with an overcooked dry meat pattie, some wilted ice burg lettuce, a slice of plastic cheese, slimey tasteless tomato and a slightly blackened, horrendously well-done egg whose smell reminds you of that childhood trip to Rototura all those years ago. Along with the burger with the lot, tinned beetroot somehow found its way onto our sandwiches where it turned your white bread pink around the edges making it impossible to swap, but an incredibly dangerous playground weapon.

After tasting fresh beetroot I wondered why we were forced to endure the tinned version of what is such a wonderfully flavoured and versatile vegetable. An ancestor of the sea beet, which is found throughout the Mediterranean, Europe and India. The beetroot has been cultivated for thousands of years, back into the second millennium BC. The plant was first domesticated along the Mediterranean before it spread to Babylonia by the 8th century BC and east to China by 850 AD. Used in cuisine both for the leafy chard, which is similar to spinach, and the rich dark red root. Beetroot appears in dishes crossing Europe, Africa, America and of course in the world renowned Australian burger with the lot.

This week I am going to hopefully shut out the beetroot crimes of the past and inspire some to stain their fingers, and possibly half their kitchen, pink in the pursuit of beetroot bliss.