Small adventures in cooking - Smoked trout and pickled beetroot salad

I adore pickles. They have an innate ability to perk up any dish, giving it a pleasing sweet-and-sour element. The beauty of this beetroot pickle is that it's ready in hours, not days, and the rest of the dish can really be thrown together in a few minutes. You'll have more pickle than you need for the salad, but it keeps for ages.

Make the pickle by boiling the beetroot in lightly salted water until easily skewered with a knife.

This could take 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of your beetroot. Drain and leave to cool, then rub the skin off with your thumb and cut the skinned beetroot into slices or cubes.

Put the vinegar, sugar, and shallots in a pan and bring to the boil, stirring all the time until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer for three minutes, pour over the beetroot, and leave to cool. Store in a sterilised jar.

To make the salad, break the smoked trout into flakes by hand and arrange on a plate with the pickled beetroot, watercress leaves, and horseradish. Add the lemon juice and a flick of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Small Adventures in Cooking by James Ramsden (£14.99, Quadrille).