Cooking: Salt-Baking Beets

Baking beetroot in a salty dough crust gives them a gentle hint of seasoning and is a novel way to present them. Serve as part of a roast dinner; they would go particularly well with beef or venison. To bake 6 medium-sized beetroot, mix 500g coarse sea salt and 500g plain flour in a large bowl. Add cold water gradually (around 10 tablespoons in total) until the mixture forms a sticky, stiff dough. Cover and chill for 30 minutes. Heat your oven to 220˚C/Gas 7. Roll out the dough to about 1cm thick. Cut into 6 pieces and fold each around a washed beetroot (skin on), pressing together to seal any folds and cracks. Arrange in a baking dish and bake for 1 hour. To serve, crack open their crust and slip them out (but don’t try eating the crust).