Pickled Beetroot and Onion (or French Shallots)

My Scottish great (great?) grandfather Jock came out to Australia many years ago.  Not sure if he was a convict or not.  So I am predisposed to all things Scottish (I love me a bagpipe!).  And I really enjoy the videos and recipes from Ali Stoner aka the Roving Haggis, a fabulous Scottish cook, currently living in Melbourne. Can't wait till her new cookbook Scran comes out!

My best friend at high school had Scottish parents, who still kept their accents after many decades here.  Her mum introduced me to recipes like Clootie dumplings, a delicious dried-fruit pudding.  Not sure if it's Scottish, but my friend introduced me to Heinz baked beans on toast with grated cheese, under the grill till it melts.  So good!  

Hubby and I backpacked around Scotland way back.  We loved it!  And almost met Princess Di (told you it was way back).  I think the Queen was residing at Balmoral too when we were nearby.  And we had a gander at the little kirk (church) she used to attend when in Scotland.  Such a shame we didn't catch up with the Loch Ness monster.  I would love to go back!

I've made these three times recently!

Recipe by the Roving Haggis!

Makes 1 large jar:

ingredients:

400g./14 oz fresh beetroot

150g./5.3 oz sliced white (or red) onion  (or French shallot)

100 mL/3.4 oz apple cider vinegar

100 mL/3.4 oz malt vinegar

150 mL/5 oz water

120g./4 oz caster sugar

1 Tbs sea salt

1 bay leaf  (or 2)

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp juniper berries  (I used Tasmanian mountain pepperberries)

1 tsp mustard seeds

delicious vinegar

Method:

Boil the beetroots till tender, then cool, peel and cut into big chunks

Finely slice the onion (or French shallot)

Layer the beetroot chunks and the sliced onion into a large jar

Now place all the other ingredients - vinegars, water and spices - into a medium saucepan, and bring it to a simmer, till the sugar is dissolved

Let it cool for a few minutes, then pour into the jar with the veg. (and shove another bay leaf in, if you please)

Give the jar a rotation or two (make sure the lid is well closed), then in it goes to the fridge for a few days - so tasty, I just eat it straight out of the jar :=)

yep, it's a beetroot :)

Notes:

Okay, I confess - I bought vacuum-sealed, pre-cooked beetroots!

as that Canadian YouTuber always says: Use two, I'm not driving :=)

dissolve that sugar!

pour the brine mixture over the veg.

sealed and ready for the fridge

so pretty and so tangy!

I used a few pink peppercorns too

Chocolate and Coconut Biscuits

Anyone from the UK (and Australia) would be well aware of the lovely Davina McCall.  I have enjoyed watching her on Long Lost Family on the telly for years.  She has a number of cookbooks out, including Davina's Kitchen Favourites, from which this recipe comes.  She doesn't pretend that she devised or wrote the recipes, but she is front and centre throughout the book, displaying her lovely teeth (hehehe). 

The cover says sugar-free, but the recipes have lots (and lots!) of maple syrup and some honey, so still plenty of sweeteners here.  The cover also says 'no-fuss' which is true.  These are fairly simple and tasty recipes "to enjoy together".  I believe a child of hers is vegan so there are some vegan recipes in here too.

Speaking of vegan, I lived with various vegans and vegetarians in my student days, and I helped a mate write a vegan cookbook.  I must hunt it up, and see if there are any recipes I can make for the blog.  I seem to remember there was lots of tofu and soybeans!  And whatever happened to those tinned soybeans in tomato sauce you could buy back in the day? 

ready for the oven (yep, more chocolate)

Makes 30 biscuits:

ingredients:

200g./7 oz butter

175g./6.2 oz/135 mL of pure maple syrup

250g./9 oz plain flour (Davina says to use wholemeal spelt, but I ain't got that stuff here)

50g./1.8 oz cocoa powder

300g./10.5 oz dessicated coconut

2 tsp baking powder

a large pinch of sea salt

25g./1 oz dark chocolate, coarsely grated   see Notes

more chocolate on top before baking  (you choose how much)

icing sugar, for decoration after baking (I added more chocolate too)

use the good stuff

Method:

Throw the butter into a small saucepan and let it melt, then add the maple syrup - give it a good stir and let it cool down

Grab a large mixing bowl and add the flour, cocoa, coconut, baking powder, and salt - and give it a good stir with your whisk

Then pour in the cooled butter and maple syrup mixture, and you guessed it - stir really well! Looks like a bit of a hot mess for a bit, but it comes together into a thick dough

Now wrap in cling film or a clean plastic bag, and into the fridge to chill for half an hour or so (or more if you forget!)

Turn on your oven to 200C/390F to heat up

Grab 2 baking trays and line with baking paper  see Notes

Divide the dough into 30 pieces (I had two lumps of about 520g./18.4 oz, which I then divided into 35g./1.3 oz blobs of dough - yep, I did indeed weigh them out to make sure they were similar

Davina says to use a 6.5 cm/2.6 inch cookie cutter, but if you weigh the pieces, you can just shape the blobs into round-ish biscuits

Grate on more chocolate if you fancy then ...

Bake for 18-20 minutes till they go crisp around the edges (too dark to tell if they're browning hehehe ...)

Let 'em cool, and then cast on some icing sugar if you like and some extra bits of grated chocolate on top

These biscuits are NOT sweet in themselves, so guess what!  I melted some dark chocolate and poured it all over the tops, then put on heaps of 100s and 1000s too.  More chocolate is always more better :=)

make sure it's not expired :=)

Notes:

I used way more chocolate than that!  I added a Flake bar 30g./1 oz, and about 50g./1.8 oz chocolate bits to the dough

I divvied up my dough into 2 lumps, one for the freezer (after slicing into discs), and one to be baked - as 30 biscuits are a bit much for us!

I actually weighed them out, and then weighed each disc so I had the same size biscuits = each biscuit was about 35 grams

BTW, these are very coconutty, so don't make 'em unless you are a coconut fan

oops not Davina's spelt flour - oh well!

ingredients gathered

melt the butter and stir the dry ingredients

add in the chocolate

stir well to combine into a thick dough/mixture

divvy into two lumps if not baking all at once (each lump about 520g.)

spread 'em out on your tray(s)

ready for the oven @200C

mmm just slightly overdone? :=)

yep smother 'em in icing sugar - why not?

butter is better

In My Kitchen - July 2026

Phew, glad that June has left the building.  It has been a right stinker, let me tell you.  And crazily wet here in sunny Brisbane.  Normally winter is our dry season, but we've had heaps of rain over autumn and winter this year.  The backyard never seems to dry out.  And the local wildlife is a bit miserable about the whole thing :=)

(See below for the evidence.)  She stayed there all day, trying to sleep.  At one point, we heard this loud thud - the poor baby had fallen asleep and fell off the beam!  She came back a week later, to rest up for the day.  Thank heavens she was okay after her fall.  

Look at her poor bedraggled tail; she stayed there till dusk

(Oops, I've added this photo twice.  Never mind!  She's worth a second look, down below.)    

In My Kitchen:

there was more beetroot-pickling (thanks Roving Haggis for the recipe)

and crazy fermenting cabbage (thanks neighbour for doing the pounding)

and we had a poor bedraggled wee possum getting out of the rain (oops! again)

of course there was chocolate, and hot chocolate mix

and Greek citrus salt and olive oil with mandarins

more herbs and spices from Herbie's

delicious! Rhubarb - is she a fruit or a vegetable in your mind?

I bought another wee spoon! Carved from Tassie tiger myrtle, by Carol A. Russell

Emma Bridgewater ceramics from Mr P. (for my birthday)

a cookbook from the cuz!

the curveball! a gorgeous wooden scallop by John Woolrych

(Just a quick FYI: I will be having medical treatment in July most likely, so I will schedule a brief IMK post just in case I am not up for it later on.  So please do add your link in August!  It will cheer me up!)

c. Sherry M.

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