RECIPE: Blender beetroot brownie by Alice Zaslavsky!

In this comprehensive and fully illustrated kitchen companion, In Praise of Veg, food writer and presenter Alice Zaslavsky profiles 50 favourite vegetable varieties, offering 150+ recipes reflective of both tradition and modernity, just as all good cooking should be. Uniquely organised by colour and filled with countless tips on flavour combinations, rule-of-thumb buying/storing/cooking methods, shortcuts, and veg wisdom from over 50 of the world’s top chefs, In Praise of Veg will help beginners and avid cooks alike turn a bag of yawns or a produce-box surprise into a knock-out meal.

Today, we have Alice’s recipe for blender beetroot brownies for you to try. Happy cooking!

Blender beetroot brownie (BBB)

Serves: 6-8

This oozy, gluten-free skillet sweetie takes inspiration from Claudia Roden’s world-famous orange-almond cake, where oranges are boiled until completely soft, then used to give both flavour and moisture to an almond meal base. Except I’ve brownie-fied this with the addition of dark chocolate and whizzed it into a wintry wonderland with beetroot. I’m especially enamoured with the colour – a kind of deep burgundy that could almost be red-velvet – and the flavour of chocolate Jaffas. I like to keep this brownie quite gooey in the middle (like a lava cake), but if you’d prefer to slice and be more sensible, bake it for a little longer.

Ingredients

1 orange (preferably organic)
1 beetroot (beet) of a similar size to the orange, plus 1 small finely sliced beetroot
200 g (7 oz) butter, melted
200 g (7 oz) dark chocolate, melted, plus 50 g (1¾ oz) extra, chopped for the top
3 eggs
1 cup (220 g) caster (superfine) sugar
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract or paste
2 cups (200 g) almond meal
½ cup (75 g) plain (all-purpose) gluten-free flour
½ cup (55 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup (70 g) walnuts
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt flakes
yoghurt, to serve

Method

Boil the whole orange and beetroot together in a saucepan, topping up with boiling water regularly to keep them covered. Cook for about 1 hour, until both are soft, and you can put a skewer through them.

Line a 20 cm x 30 cm (8 inch x 12 inch) brownie tin or skillet with baking paper. (I line all the way up the sides if I’m using a brownie tin and plan to turn the whole thing out, but for the skillet version, simply lining the base of the pan will do.)

When the beetroot is cool enough to handle (but still warm), use some paper towel or a teaspoon to create some friction and help slip the skin off.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

Pop the warm beet in a blender or food processor, along with the orange, butter and the 200 g (7 oz) chocolate. Blitz to combine, keeping the machine whirring until a smooth purée forms. Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla and blitz until incorporated.

In a bowl, mix together the almond meal, flour, cocoa, walnuts and baking powder, then add these to your blitz-machine and give it a few pulses, until the lumps of flour have mostly incorporated – but not too much, lest you bake a brick!

Pour the batter into the brownie tin or skillet, then dot with the extra chocolate and beetroot slices and sprinkle with salt flakes. Bake for 40–45 minutes, until the brownie is fudgey and still moist. Don’t bother doing the skewer test … it’ll lead you astray.

Allow to cool slightly before digging in. Serve warm with yoghurt as a decadent pudding, or cut into small slices for lunchboxes and mid-afternoon snacking. Store in an airtight container in the fridge, where it’ll happily keep for at least 1 week (but who are we kidding here?).

Tip

I use a mandoline to thinly slice the beetroot for garnishing, but you can also peel it into strips using a vegetable peeler.

Shortcut

Before baking, scoop out – cup (80 ml) of the batter for zapping in a microwave-proof mug to make a mug cake. It’s not as oozy, but if you’re desperate and can’t wait, the option is there for you.

–Images and text from In Praise of Veg by Alice Zaslavsky, photography by Ben Dearnley. Murdoch Books RRP $59.99, available now from Booktopia.

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In Praise of Veg

A modern kitchen companion

by Alice Zaslavsky

The definitive guide to making vegetables the centre of the plate.

In this comprehensive and fully illustrated kitchen companion, food writer and presenter Alice Zaslavsky profiles 50 favourite vegetable varieties, offering 150+ recipes reflective of both tradition and modernity, just as all good cooking should be. Uniquely organised by colour and filled with countless tips...

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