Beetroot salad with shallots, anchovies, chilli and mint — a Rowley Leigh recipe

My vegetable gardening appears to be a bit like my golf. Most of the time I labour around the course, squirting the ball into the rough, hitting the occasional air shot, chipping the ball two feet when it should have been 20 and missing three-foot putts. However, just occasionally I do something right: the drive is straight, the seven-iron approach lands next to the flag or the 20-foot putt drops into the hole. These small triumphs vindicate the whole process: after all, if the ball goes in the hole, could Tiger Woods have done any better?

I will not catalogue my myriad failures in the garden. We live up in the hills on the Somerset and Devon border and the climate was especially unkind this year at what was meant to be the start of summer. Potatoes, the easiest and best thing of all to grow, were a tenth as good as last year’s crop. Most of the rest of the midsummer harvest was meagre, a sad litany of failed peas, bolted lettuces and wilted beans.

But I have had some success. I just didn’t realise that “summer” on Exmoor meant the six weeks beginning in September. I have had an abundance of Swiss chard, squash and tomatoes. I have had enough coco beans to make a cassoulet. And whatever eats every cabbage and chicory that I plant is kind enough to leave the beets completely alone.

It is possible that they are so satiated with what they have found in the first two beds that they have had no need to venture further. But I think they are, like a few people, simply averse to beetroot. Were these just the ubiquitous red beetroot, I might agree with them, but these were not. I planted a dozen each of “Boldor” — a lovely golden beetroot — and “Chioggia” — also known as “candy stripe” — and ended up with less than half of each. Yet the survivors thrived.

My efforts have not been cost effective. If I added up the expenditure on the construction of my raised beds, on topsoil and compost, on seeds, pots, trays, canes and other paraphernalia, I could have kept myself in caviar and truffles for most of the year. It is irrelevant. I could claim that the stuff tastes better, and it does, but that also misses the point. Like the perfectly struck seven iron and the delicate chip that lands a foot from the hole, the swelling of the heart when bringing a basket full of one’s own produce into the kitchen simply cannot be bought.

Beetroot salad with shallots, anchovies, chilli and mint

The beet leaves deteriorate rapidly after picking: if buying from a shop or farmers’ market, you will have to be quick if you wish to enjoy them, otherwise they will have to be discarded. The beautiful stripes on the Chioggia fade to a uniform, dull pink on cooking but never mind, the taste is the thing.

Recipe for six

1. Wash the beets thoroughly and cut the leaves and stalks away from the roots at their base. Place the roots in the top compartment of a steamer and cook for one or two hours, depending on their size. They should offer no resistance when pierced with a thin blade or skewer. As soon as the beets are cool enough to handle, rub the skins off with kitchen paper to reveal the shiny flesh. Segment or slice the beets, sprinkle with sea salt and vinegar and leave to macerate.

2. Steam the leaves and shoots briefly until wilted and then macerate them with sea salt and very good olive oil. Remove the seeds from the chilli and slice it very thinly together with the peeled shallots. Arrange the leaves, stalks and beets in a shallow bowl and sprinkle over the chilli, shallots, anchovies and torn mint leaves. A little extra dousing of olive oil will do no harm.

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