Eating Outside the Box, Take 4

This season' CSA delivery is drawing to a close, as Fall is upon us.  Only three more weeks of bountiful, organic produce remain.  (Only three more weeks of less time spent in grocery stores, too, sadly.)  Gazing upon the bright orange and gold vegetables so fitting this season, I once again sought dinner inspiration from Nigel Slater's Tender.

With a plenitude of snappy carrots and golden beets, I chose Mr. Slater's recipe for "a salad of carrot thinnings" as my springboard.  The recipe is actually for those tiny, tender spring carrots, and miniature beets.  Mine were large, and very autumnal.  And I don't think Mr. Slater would mind my adaptations one bit.

Away we go:

A Warm Salad of Carrots and Golden Beets - adapted from Tender
 - serves 4 to 6 as a side

Ingredients
1 bunch carrots, about 1 pound, peeled, and cut into sticks
3 medium to large golden beets, peeled, and sliced into rounds
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
1 Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 or 4 Tbs olive oil
handful of fresh herbs, chopped - I used dill and parsley, the recipe calls for cilantro, use what's on hand
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

You may either boil or steam your veggies, depending on your preference, and their size.  If you're making this as it's originally intended, with wee spring vegetables, steaming would work best.  (In this case, leave small beets whole.)  If, as I did, you're using larger, autumn veg, it may be more prudent to boil them.  Boil the beets first until just barely fork tender, with a bit of a snap remaining to them.  Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and set in a colander to drain.  Cook your carrots for a minute or two, just to take the raw edge off, and drain.

While the carrots cook, slice your beet rounds into sticks, similar in size to the carrots.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk your vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper, then drizzle in your oil, whisking to combine.  Toss in the vegetables, stir to coat in the dressing, and add your fresh herbs.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

This salad keeps nicely for a day in the fridge, and is lovely for lunch the next day.

Happy Autumn to you!

Making the Most (of Beets)

I usually have the very best of intentions when it comes to not being wasteful of food.  I sometimes find it tricky, though, to use every last bit of certain foods, even though they taste lovely.  Beet greens are often my downfall, as far as wastefulness goes, anyway.  I adore beets.  Everything about them:  their vibrant, almost obnoxious color; their sweet, yet earthy taste; how they adapt to so many preparations...steamed, boiled, roasted (especially roasted!), pickled, juiced...And yet those greens often elude me, and I find myself guiltily snipping them off, wilted from not being used immediately, and chucking them. 

I detest wasting food.

Not so last night, though, my friends.  I made the most of those beets, greens and all.  I'd been picking through Tender (again), and lit upon one of Slater's ever-so-helpful recommendations on an accompaniment to beets.  Get this:  gherkins.  (That's a cornichon to the French, and pickled, for us Americans.)  Beets and pickles, you say?  Hmm.  I mulled it over, and found it made sense.  After all, beets and dill are a perfect pairing, and how delicious are pickled beets?  So, I decide to make a salad out of my beet greens, which were young, tender, and rather sprightly (thus, I absolutely could not waste them, yet again), some roasted beetroot, and some cornichons.  A little pomegranate and shallot vinaigrette...and away we go.

Here you have it.  A salad that's just crazy enough to work:

A Salad of Roasted Beets, Wilted Beet Greens, and Cornichons - serves 4 as a side

Ingredients
1 bunch (3 or 4 small to medium) beets, with tender, fresh greens still attached
3/4 cup cornichons, sliced into bite-sized pieces
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
smoked flaky sea salt (regular flake sea salt will do fine)
freshly ground black pepper

Vinaigrette
2 Tbs pomegranate red wine vinegar (or balsamic)
1 tsp minced shallots
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp packed brown sugar
4 - 6 Tbs extra virgin olive oil (I used about 4, for a tangier vinaigrette)
smoked sea salt (or regular)
freshly ground black pepper

To prepare the beets:

Preheat the oven to 425deg F.

Snip the beet greens off, about an inch above the root.  Thoroughly wash the beetroot, scrubbing away any mud or dirt.  Check in the stems particularly, clumps of sandy mud often hide in there.  Rinse the greens (separately) in a sink partly filled with cold water, leaving to soak for a couple of minutes, to loosen any grit.  Drain, then wrap in a paper towel, and refrigerate until ready to assemble the salad.

Quarter or halve the beets, depending on size, and place on a large square of aluminum foil.  Drizzle with a bit of olive oil, some balsamic vinegar, and season with smoked sea salt and pepper.  Wrap the packet tightly, place atop a baking sheet, and roast for 45 minutes to an hour, until beets are fork-tender.

To prepare the vinaigrette:

Once the beets go into the oven, whisk together the vinegar, dijon, shallots, brown sugar, salt and pepper, until thoroughly combined, then drizzle in the olive oil, and whisk until emulsified, about a minute or so.  Leave at room temperature to let the flavors mingle until you dress the salad.

To assemble the salad:

*Note*  My beet greens were rather small, and quite tender, thus, needing no more than a little wilt from the hot-from-the-oven beetroot.  I'd advise using similarly young greens, or if that is impossible, either substitute another slightly bitter green (such as arugula, or mustard greens), or give older beet greens a go quick go around in a hot pan, to wilt them down a bit, before tossing the salad together.

In a large serving dish, toss the greens with small amount of vinaigrette, then the (still hot) beetroot.  Dress with a bit more vinaigrette, then scatter the cornichons over the salad.  Serve immediately.

You really could play with this salad, and change it up, by altering the dressing ingredients, or adding a tangy goats cheese to contrast with the sweetness of the beets, and the tart cornichons.  Have fun with your food, and make the most of it!

Making Time

Again, with the silence on this little blog.  I can now happily say that those things that have recently stood in my blogging-way...packing, moving house, waiting for internet to be hooked up...those things have been dealt with, and I'm back with some food for you.

It's been a bit of a challenge these days, making time for a homemade meal, I must say.  Lacking the time, the kitchen tools awaiting unpacking, and the energy, it's been kind of slapdash eating around here.  Night before last though, I got it together, enough to make a simple sort of supper, inspired by Nigel Slater's Tender.  May I interject here, and say that this book is divine.  I'm quite sure I've said it already, but seriously folks, divine.  Especially for all you gardeners out there.  Which I aspire to be.  And eaters of good food.  Which I definitely like to think I am.

Anyway, a cold night called for a warming supper, and as I flipped through the beautiful pages of the book, looking for a recipe for ingredients that were present in my kitchen, I felt myself drawn to the Potato section.  (Mr. Slater divides his book into gardening and recipes for individual vegetables, it's genius, I tell you.)  I dig a potato.  No pun intended.  Especially as I have not yet ever actually dug a potato.  But I love them, in all their humble, transmutable glory.  And as I had just unearthed my potato ricer from the mountain of kitchen boxes, I knew a nice mash was just the thing for this sort of evening.

In Tender, Slater often simply gives a hint at a recipe.  A gist, if you will.  Suggesting a few ingredients that marry well, and leaving the amounts up to the cook.  I love this.  It works so well, given that you may be feeding only a few, or many.  Given that you may have a certain kind of cheese, but not another.  And especially given that some foods are just so flexible, and it's a good thing to get creative in the kitchen, really, isn't it?

Let's do this thing.

Leek and Gruyere Mash - adapted from Tender
-serves 4 as a main, 6 as a side

Ingredients - I'm giving you rough amounts here, use whatever you've got, you really can't go wrong

About 1 1/2 to 2 lbs of russet potatoes, peeled and boiled in salted water until fork-tender
Milk or cream and a large nob of butter, for the mash
One or two large leeks, rinsed well, and sliced into rounds
Butter for sweating the leeks
Gruyére, grated, about 1/2 to 3/4 a cup
A bit more butter, for dotting on the top of the mash before baking, about a Tbs

While your potatoes are boiling, sweat off the leeks in about a tablespoon of butter, in a saucepan, over rather low heat.  Season, and cover with a lid, so they cook nice and slow.  Stir from time to time, cooking until they're silken, and practically falling apart.  No browning here, so keep the heat nice and low.  Once they're done, spread in the bottom of a baking dish.

Once your potatoes are just fork-tender, drain them and using a potato ricer (my favorite way to make a mash), rice them back into the cooking pot.  Or place them in the pot, and mash them.  Throw in some butter, a tablespoon or two, season with sea salt and pepper, and enough milk or cream to bring your mash together nicely.  I used a mixture of milk and cream, since I had some cream that needed finishing, and well, cream is darn tasty.  Add a bit at a time, don't make your mash too wet and gloppy, you want it to still be nice and thick, but smooth.  Spread the mash over the leeks, taking care not to press down tightly.

Dot the bits of remaining butter over the mash, then cover with the grated cheese, and bake in a 400 deg F oven, until the cheese begins to bubble and the top has touches of golden-brown going on.  This took me about half an hour.  Just keep an eye on it, and you'll be good to go.

And there you have it.  An incredibly simple, and hugely satisfying dish.  One you can easily make time for in a busy schedule.  Serve it up with a salad, or some steamed veggies.  As you can see...

...it went down a treat.  The Girl came back for thirds, after being excused from the table.  Thirds.  It's that good.

Have a lovely day!