Dressed Herring

Method

1. Scrub 1 beetroot without peeling it, put it in a small pan, cover with cold water and simmer, covered, for 40 minutes, until a skewer slides into the centre with no resistance. Top up with boiling water if it drops below the beetroot.
2. Meanwhile put 1 potato and 1 carrot, both unpeeled, in a second pan of cold salted water and simmer 20-25 minutes until tender to the point of a knife. In the same pan of water, or a mug of boiling water, hard-boil 1 egg for 9 minutes, then cool it under cold running water. Drain everything and leave until cold enough to handle, then slip off the skins of the beetroot, potato and carrot and shell the egg.
3. Rinse 60 g of herring fillet under cold water, pat dry, run your fingers along it to find any stray pin bones, then cut it into neat 5 mm dice. Toss 20 g of finely chopped onion with 1 tsp of white wine vinegar and leave to soften for 10 minutes, then squeeze it dry — this takes the raw bite out of it.