"Time to eat" beetroot tagliatelle

Eat your heart out Instagram, WOW the colour!

 By default the other night I found myself watching the Nadiya Hussain series "Time to eat". As with all cookery shows these days it was about "watch the programme,now buy the book". This was a programme about quick and easy, short cut recipes for "time poor" people.So how is it that "we" somehow don't have time to cook, but we can always find time to binge-watch endless episodes of cookery shows like this?
Cooking's not even all that time consuming anyway. I cook from scratch every night and most things only take half an hour - and some of that time is just waiting for water to boil or sauce to reduce.But somehow this kind of TV programme works because it is not about food or time-saving at all. It is about putting our feet up, glass of wine in hand for half an hour, wallowing in Nadiya’s rather sweet child like innocence.She is a bright and engaging presenter producing ice cream carton loads of natural charm all served up with large portions of spontaneous banter,the key to which is revealed when she looks up from frying her egg rolls at us and asks “Can you smell that?!” then catches herself. “No, you can’t smell that. I can, though!" Very few presenters can manage to master the art  of this one to one style of broadcasting. Ok some her recipes are a bit bonkers. Haddock and marmalade? No thank you,but when I look at my own personal style of cooking,I tend to err on the side of quirky too.
Beetroot is a no-brainer for me, it tastes fantastic even when it´s simply roasted or cooked or pre-cooked and vacuum packed from the supermarket as in this recipe.
Isn't it time to take a break from roasted beetroot with goat cheese? I think so.It is so yesterday.There are so many other things you can do with this wonderful root vegetable.
This is a classic pairing: the earthiness of the beets and the saltiness of the feta marry quite well with fresh basil, mint or coriander, Nadiya specified dill but I wasn´t keen so I substituted.
All you need for this is a blender,smoothie maker or food processor - whatever you use to make mush - it will work,and the only cooking is the pasta.This tastes delicious,but eat your heart out Instagram, WOW the colour! This recipe will give you two portions of glorious beetroot sauce; but if you just want to make a single batch halve the ingredients listed in purple.
Nadiya Hussains beetroot tagliatelle
with an o cozinheiro twist
Serves 5
500g tagliatelle
600g cooked beetroot,drained
100ml olive oil
1 tsp flor de sal
4 cloves garlic
1 large red chilli ( de-seeded if you want it less spicy)
200g feta cheese
20g fresh basil,mint or coriander or a mix of all three, finely chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
Chives and extra olive oil,(optional) for serving 
Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the packet
Meanwhile make the sauce.Put the beetroot into a blender and add the olive oil,salt, garlic and chilli
and blend to a smooth paste.
Put half the sauce into a frezable container:now you have an extra batch of sauce ready for another meal.Crumble the feta cheese into a bowl.Chop the mint and basil and add to the cheese,then drizzle over the lemon juice and mix,
Once the pasta is cooked to your liking ( We like it al dente ),drain and put back into the pan.Pour in all that beautiful beetroot sauce and mix through.I cant help but be mesmerized by nature when the colour mixes with the pasta,staining it bright pink.Tip out onto a serving dish and sprinkle over the feat and dill mix,Drizzle with a little extra olive oil before serving.
The frozen sauce will keep for up to 6 months