Citrus, beetroot and rhubarb: Nicholas Balfe’s recipes for winter colour - The Guardian

Baked beetroot, soured cream, charred onions, sumac

Beets are at their best in midwinter, after the frosts turn all the starch into sugar. They’re a match made in heaven with soured cream, while charred onions and sumac bring a mangal-esque smoke and acidity that works brilliantly. This is a great side for lamb chops or slow-cooked lamb shoulder, but it can be scaled up to be a main course in its own right.

Prep 10 min
Cook 1 hr 10 min
Serves 4 as a side, 2 as a main

For the beetroot
1kg beetroot – I like cylindra best, but regular round red ones will do
Salt
1 tbsp muscovado sugar
200ml cider vinegar
Aromatics – a little crushed garlic, a couple of bay leaves, 4-5 peppercorns: whatever you have to hand, and to taste

For the onions
Vegetable oil
2 red onions, or 4 banana shallots, unpeeled
100ml cider vinegar
50g caster sugar
A few thyme sprigs

For the soured cream
300ml good-quality soured cream
½ garlic clove
½ lemon

To serve
1 tsp sumac
Chopped herbs – again, whatever you have to hand

Put all the beetroot ingredients in an oven tray, add 200ml water and toss to combine. Cover tightly with a lid or tinfoil and bake at 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 for an hour, until tender. Remove, leave until cool enough to touch, but not cold, then peel off the skins (don’t wear a white shirt while doing this, or you’ll inevitably stain it purple). Cut into bite-sized wedges and keep warm.

Meanwhile, put a little vegetable oil in a heavy-based ovenproof pan on a medium-high heat. Cut the unpeeled onions in half and season generously. Sear in the pan, turning occasionally, until they colour and blacken slightly, then add the vinegar, sugar and thyme. Cover with tinfoil, then put in the oven alongside the beetroot for 10-15 minutes, until tender. Remove, peel off the skins and cut off the roots, then season with a pinch of salt and keep somewhere warm.

Mix the soured cream with the garlic, lemon and salt to taste, then spread over a platter. Top with the beetroot chunks, break the onions into pieces and add those, too, along with some of their cooking liquor, then top with a dusting of sumac and a sprinkling of the herbs.

Ceviche, celeriac, citrus

The texture of the baked and sliced celeriac mimics the fish, meaning your prime ingredient goes further (great for January frugality!), and also absorbs the acid and heat of the tiger’s milk dressing beautifully. This dish is built around native UK ingredients, but with the exotic feel of a ceviche. If you don’t eat fish, just omit it – this works well as a plant-based dish, too.

Prep 15 min
Cure 3-4 hr
Cook 1 hr 45 min
Serves 4 as a starter

For the ceviche
400g sustainably sourced sea bass, hake or gilt-head bream fillet, skinned
40g sea salt
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon

For the celeriac
1 celeriac (500g)
1 tsp salt
5 thyme sprigs, or a couple of bay leaves

For the tiger’s milk dressing
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced or finely grated
Juice and zest of 1 lime
2cm piece ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 red chilli, deseeded and very finely chopped (or ½ tsp dried chilli flakes or ½ tsp fermented chilli sauce)
Sea salt
A pinch of sugar
A splash of fish sauce (optional)

To serve
4 radishes, trimmed and very thinly sliced
1 handful fresh herbs – coriander, dill, chervil, fennel tops, celery tops, or a mixture
A few blood orange segments, or grapefruit or mandarin, all pith removed
Good olive oil

First, cure the fish. Put the fish in a non-reactive container and coat evenly on both sides with the sea salt, lime and lemon zest. Cover, chill for three to four hours, then rinse thoroughly and pat dry.

Meanwhile, bake the celeriac. Put the celeriac on two sheets of foil, season with the salt and add the herbs. Wrap in the foil and bake in a 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 oven for one and a half hours , until the flesh is giving but not totally soft and squishy (technical term!). Unwrap, leave to cool, then trim off the skin. Cut the flesh into quarters, then slice thinly.

Mix all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and leave to sit for 15-20 minutes.

Finely slice the fish and arrange it on plates or shallow bowls in ruffled slices, alternating them with the celeriac slices – don’t worry about being too precise or neat. Dress with lots of the tiger’s milk dressing and leave to sit at room temperature for anywhere between five and 15 minutes – whatever works for you, but bear in mind that after a quarter of an hour, the fish will start to over “cook” in the citrus. Top with the sliced radishes, herbs, citrus and a healthy drizzle of olive oil, and serve.

• The Guardian aims to publish recipes for sustainable fish. Check ratings in your region: UK; Australia; US.

Pork loin, rhubarb, bitter leaves

Forced rhubarb comes into season in late January, providing a spark of vivid pink energy at an otherwise muted time of year. For me, it’s one of the highlights of the culinary calendar. Rhubarb and pork work brilliantly together, but be sure to source the best, outdoor-reared pork you can afford, and don’t be afraid of the fat – the tang of the rhubarb and the agrodolce bitter leaves here are the perfect foil.

Prep 10 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 4 as a main

For the rhubarb
1kg forced rhubarb, roughly chopped
100g sugar
100g cider vinegar
3 star anise
1 thumb-sized piece ginger, peeled and grated

For the pork
Vegetable oil
2 x 300g pieces pork loin, skin removed (you could crisp that up separately if you like)
Salt and black pepper
50g butter
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
5 thyme sprigs, leaves picked
100ml cider, or white wine or apple juice
100ml chicken stock (optional)
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp honey

For the bitter leaves
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
1 tsp chopped capers
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp chopped parsley, or other soft herb
1 tbsp olive oil
½ radicchio, leaves separated, or oak leaf, lollo rosso or any other robust, slightly bitter winter leaf

Put all the rhubarb ingredients in a big saucepan on a medium heat, and cook for about 10 minutes, until softened and the liquid has reduced. Remove and discard the star anise, then keep warm.

Meanwhile, cook the pork. Heat the oven to 170C (150C fan)/335F/gas 3½. Put a good glug of vegetable oil in a heavy-based ovenproof pan on a medium heat on the hob, and season the pork all over with salt. Hold the pork fat side down in the hot pan, and cook for three to five minutes, so it renders; turn down the heat a bit if it looks as if it’s catching. Lay the pork on one cut side, turn up the heat to medium-high, leave to colour for two to four minutes, then flip over and repeat. Add the butter, garlic and thyme, then transfer to the warm oven for eight to 10 minutes, until cooked through (or 55C, if you have a meat thermometer). Transfer the meat to a warmed plate and leave to rest in a warm place, during which time it should reach 62C minimum (if you like it cooked more, leave it in the oven for longer, but make sure you give it a very good rest afterwards).

While the meat is resting, put the cider, stock (if using), wholegrain mustard and honey in the pan, and whisk over a medium heat until they start to bubble. Strain, then keep warm.

In a large bowl, whisk the dijon mustard, honey, capers, vinegar, parsley and olive oil into a glossy dressing, add the radicchio, season and toss to coat.

Slice the pork across the loin, transfer to warmed plates, add a spoonful of warm rhubarb, a pile of radicchio and a drizzle of cider sauce, and serve immediately.

• Nicholas Balfe is chef/co-owner of Holm in South Petherton, Somerset

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