Finnish beetroot salad with pink dressing (Rosolli)

1. Boil the beetroot in their skins for 40-45 minutes and the potatoes and carrots separately for 20 minutes until tender, then cool them all completely and peel.

2. Cut the beetroot, potatoes, carrots, pickled cucumbers and cored apple into even cubes of about 1 cm; chop the onion very finely.

3. Put everything except the beetroot into a bowl, season lightly with salt and pepper and toss gently.

4. Keep the beetroot cubes in a separate bowl and arrange them on top or alongside when serving so they don't stain everything; save the beetroot juice left on the chopping board.

5. Whip the cream until frothy but not stiff and stir in the sugar, vinegar and 1-2 spoonfuls of beetroot juice until it turns a pretty pink.

6. Serve the salad with the beetroot and offer the dressing in a separate bowl.

Tip: Rosolli brings colour to the Finnish Christmas table: the vegetables are traditionally laid out in separate heaps by colour, and everyone mixes them on their own plate. The pink cream dressing is its trademark - the beetroot juice gives it its colour. For a lighter version, you can replace half the cream with sour cream.