Nigel Slater"s recipes with horseradish Life and character The Observer

Deep heat: sharp meatballs are tasty when interconnected with a cooling dill and soured thickk thickk thickk thickk thickk cream sauce. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin

Roasted roots with horseradish. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin

Like rock climbing from a prohibited open and rolling exposed in the snow, I get majority wish from eating scorching-hot food when I am solidified to the core. When I contend hot, I am not articulate only of temperature, but of the outcome of those culinary bringers of feverishness – from wasabi to developed chillies, yellow grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained mustard and thick, woody roots of ivory horseradish. A sweet, onion-based stew of beef or vegetables can get a last-minute stirring of grated horseradish, only as crushed potato gets churned up with mustard, and wasabi is able of endowing even mayonnaise with a sweat‑inducing glow.

Horseradish, the frail ivory base that grows similar to topsy in grassed area and weed verge alike, is constantly treated with colour as a one‑trick pony, fundamentally lumped with fry beef or smoked fish. It deserves more.

Broad-minded greengrocers aside, it is removing formidable to buy a base of horseradish. Supermarkets frequency collection it, and farmers" markets are a less successful sport belligerent than you competence expect. Ready to dig from Oct onwards, it can be left in the belligerent to yank out as you need (I dug a small from a grassed area in the north of England last week) and will store well in a cosmetic bag or slightly wet journal in the bottom of the fridge.

The ready-grated things in jars can be useful, but it lacks the loyal distracted feverishness of a creatively rebuilt root. And as well mostly it comes as a sauce, churned with thickk thickk thickk thickk thickk cream and ready to dab on the plates. It can additionally enclose divert powder, mutated starch, dusty egg, grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained mustard flour, titanium dioxide and xanthan gum. Others pleasure in being small some-more than horseradish root, sunflower oil, thickk thickk thickk thickk thickk cream and seasoning. Be certain to take your eyeglasses with you.

Nothing takes hold of a grassed area similar to horseradish, promulgation the prolonged tapering roots low down in to the belligerent afterwards throttling all that gets in the path. I saw a sidestep of it in a Chiswick subsidy last autumn. Problems movement since it takes strength and calm to remove a singular base intact, and even the smallest square left in the belligerent can form a underbrush inside of a year or two. You can tame it in a bucket, similar to mint, if you don"t mind a focussed end.

The alternative majority usual bringer of feverishness in to the normal winter dishes is mustard. I mostly make make use of of them both in the same dish, as the horseradish brings pristine purify heat, the grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained mustard lends a richer savoury note. Both similar to beef and mackerel, and are at their happiest in the participation of beetroot or potato.

A cool winter-salad thought involves thick chips of oven baked beetroot, cut similar to corpulent French fries, tossed with slices of honeyed orange, total parsley leaves and a sauce of walnut oil, lemon juice, grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained mustard and really finely grated horseradish. I infrequently put a splash in to the crème fraîche I make make use of of to perk up a play of Schiaparelli-pink beetroot soup.

Horseradish and grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained mustard love potatoes. I infrequently supplement a spoonful to a gratin or offer shallow-fried potatoes with a small grated horseradish root. Another great winter wheeze is a prohibited unfeeling salad of roasted parsnips and beets with a horseradish and parsley dressing. It combines the worldly tones of the winter roots with the wake-up call of the dual prohibited seasonings. Of march zero improves the essence of a base of horseradish similar to a great cold snap. Though how you get it out of the solidified belligerent is anybody"s guess. Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or revisit guardian.co.uk/profile/nigelslater for all his recipes in one place MEATBALLS WITH MUSTARD AND HORSERADISH

Serves 4

1 middle onion1 thin cut of butter6 juniper berries90g uninformed white breadcrumbs3 tsp grated horseradish root2 heaped tsp pellet mustard800g gaunt minced beef1 egg yolk1 small garland dill, chopped1 tbsp olive oil350ml beef stock150ml soured thickk thickk thickk thickk thickk cream Peel the onion and clout it finely. Put it in to a shoal vessel with the butter and let it prepare over a assuage feverishness for 5 mins or so until translucent. Tip in to a large blending bowl.

Lightly vanquish the juniper berries and supplement them to the onion with the breadcrumbs, 2 tsp of the grated horseradish and 1 tsp of the mustard. Add the minced beef, egg yolk, half of the chopped dill, and deteriorate with salt and black pepper. Mix thoroughly. Set the oven at 200C/gas symbol 6.

Pull off pieces of the reduction and hurl in to balls utilizing the palms of your hands. The distance of a golf round seems about right to me. Warm the olive oil in a non-stick vessel and as shortly as it starts to glisten supplement we estimate half the meatballs, withdrawal space in between them. Turn over with a palette blade as they begin to colour. Transfer to a shoal baking plate and prepare the second batch. Pour the collection in to the vessel in that you browned the meatballs, move to the boil, stir to disintegrate any tasty-looking vessel crustings afterwards flow over the meatballs.

Put in a prohibited oven and leave for twenty mins until the meatballs are baked right by and the collection is shimmering. As the meatballs cook, stir the superfluous grated horseradish, grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained mustard and dill in to the soured cream. Serve with the meatballs.

ROASTED ROOTS WITH HORSERADISH

Serves 4 as a light lunch 4 medium-sized beetroot8 small carrots2 parsnips4 medium-sized onionsa small olive oila couple of sprigs of thyme8 cloves of garlic For the dressing:2 tsp red-wine vinegar2 tsp well-spoken mustard2 tsp finely grated uninformed horseradish1 tsp runny honey3 tbsp groundnut or sunflower oil3 tbsp walnut oil Set the oven at 200C/gas symbol 6. Trim the beetroot but don"t flay them. Put them in a vessel of H2O and move them to the boil. Simmer for twenty-five mins or until they will only take the point of a skewer. Drain them and flay afar the skin. It should come off easily. Put them in a roasting tin with the carrots, Jerusalem artichokes and parsnips halved or quartered, as you think fit, and the total unpeeled onions. Trickle a small olive oil over them. Pull the thyme leaves off their twigs and supplement to the vegetables along with the total garlic cloves. Season easily with salt and cover the roasting tin loosely with foil. Bake for 45 minutes, afterwards remove the foil and prepare for a offer twenty minutes.

Make the dressing. Put the old wine in to a small bowl. Add a great splash of sea salt and let it dissolve. Stir in the grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained grained mustard and horseradish, afterwards drive in the sugar and oils. When the roots are ready, toss kindly with the sauce and offer at once.