How to roast beetroot

Beetroot has to be one of the most poorly perceived and misunderstood vegetables on earth. It hardly ever comes up on recipes, is rarely on menus and the only time people encounter it is when it has been drowned in vinegar.

This richly coloured root vegetable is however a joy to use as a side dish for roast dinners, while beetroot soups and chutneys are quite delicious.

There are 'rules' that need to be remembered when dealing with a beetroot, such as to leave the skin and undamaged when boiling it, but this recipe deal with simple roasting beetroot to provide an eye-catching side dish for a roast dinner - such as beef.

Ingredients 

4 medium sized beetroots (avoid large beets as they can be tough)
olive oil
dried thyme
salt and pepper

Method

You may find cooks adamant that beetroot should also be roasted with its skin on and then peeled once cooled, but I don't believe that this is necessary as the flavour is retained in this recipe.

1. Carefully peel the beetroot and then quarter each one
   
2. Mix together with enough olive oil to cover the beetroot pieces.
   
3. Add the thyme (roughly 2 heaped teaspoons, but I can't say I measure this) and a pinch of salt and some freshly cracked black pepper.
   
4. Mix the beetroot pieces so the herbs/salt/pepper are evenly distributed.
   
5. Place on a roasting tray and put in a pre-heated oven (200 degrees) for an hour.
   

The beetroot pieces do not ooze too much juice, even to though they've been peeled, but if you use the roasting tray to make a gravy to accompany the roast this will help aid the flavour.