Tried and tested: BBC Good Food beetroot falafel

I've recently been loving beetroot, and today I woke up with inspiration to turn the beets I had in the fridge into beetroot falafel. Courtesy of BBC Good Food, I found a recipe that I could do without having to pop to the shop. I had 250g beetroot available so I halved the recipe. Here's what I did.

250g raw beetroot, peeled and grated
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 egg (should have been half an egg but who's got time for that)
50g breadcrumbs (I toasted the end off a frozen loaf before whizzing to crumbs, one slice was exactly the right amount)
400g can of chick peas
1 tsp peanut butter (supposed to be tahini but I don't have any)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

1. I chopped the onion and put it on to fry in the olive oil. I did this as gently as I could to just soften the onions and to buy myself some grating time...
2. I grated the beetroot on a box grater. Took ages and was incredibly messy. But fun.
3. I added cumin to the frying onions, and continued to fry it off for a further minute.
4. My breadcrumbs were already in the mixer where I'd used the blade to create them, so on top of the breadcrumbs I added the chick peas, peanut butter, egg, onion and cumin mix and then two thirds of the beetroot.
5. Next came whizzing time. This took forever - I think because my mixer isn't designed for such hardcore work and I perhaps should have split the batch into two. I blended until it came to a paste (with lots of poking to get it there).
6. I put the remaining beetroot in a big mixing bow, then added the paste and stirred together.
7. The mixture was very wet, so with moist hands I rolled out little falafel sized balls and placed them on a baking sheet lined with parchment. The recipe said it made 10 (as I had halved it) but I ended up with 14.
8. Last thing to do was to grease the tops of the falafel - which I did by spraying Fry-Light on to each one. Simple and easy and cleaner and making another utensil bright pink.
9. The falafel then went into the oven on 180 degrees (fan oven) and I sat patiently until they looked done, which was about 30 minutes.

I was a little disappointed when they came out of the oven, I expected them to be slightly golden which they weren't. Next time I might try shallow frying them. However, I've done a taste test and they're super; really earthy like all good beetroot based things should be, and delicately spiced. Next time I would add more cumin but I am rather partial to it.

Right, I'm off back downstairs to partake in a couple more. There are 14, after all.

"Jack and Jill", James Patterson

Last month I read "Jack and Jill" by James Patterson. It's another in the Alex Cross series - I've got through books 1 & 2, and this is number 3.

This book focussed on two main plot lines; the murder of children from a school near to Alex's house, and the murder of prominent political figures in Washington with what appears to be a threat to the president.

Now that I've read a couple of the Alex Cross series, I am seeing them as "episodes" of a story and I like that there are constants throughout - about Alex's life, family etc.

I find this series incredibly easy to read, and hard to put down. As with "Kiss The Girls", the short, suspense-filled chapters (averaging around 3 pages each) make it almost impossible to walk away from. I kept thinking "I'll just read this next chapter" and before I knew it had consumed half the book.

I wasn't particularly keen on how faultless Alex and his children seemed to be this time around; I know every parent loves their children, and that Alex is our hero, but it would be great to see some contrast in the characters to make them more realistic.

This book was entertaining, good escapism and I'm certainly keen to keep reading the rest of the series despite the minor criticism I mentioned. Perhaps a little break will do me good, so I've just picked up "Divergent" by Veronica Roth for a change in pace and topic.