BY GWEN KENNEALLY
As I walk through the open-air market, far from the abundance of winter fruits, I stumble upon the misfit vegetables. Winter root vegetables lack the vibrant shade from the skin, but once peeled the beetroot is magnificent with intense texture and color. Uncooked they are crunchy, but the transformation after cooking is smooth and buttery. Red or golden is said that beets are good for the brain, but I just love the taste.
Beet, Lemon, and Ginger Marmalade
1 pound cooked beets combination of red and gold
1/2 tsp salt
Juice and zest of one lemon
1-teaspoon ginger, minced
Pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg
1/3 cup crystallized ginger, sliced
Peel and coarsely grate the beets, and transfer to a medium-sized bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Transfer to a tightly capped jar.
Beet Tzatziki
1 pound beets, roasted
2 garlic cloves
1/2-teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups thick low-fat Greek style
Black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon finely chopped dill
Grate the roasted beets on the large holes of a grater. Smash the garlic with the salt in a mortar and pestle. Add the lemon juice, and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir into the yogurt. Add back pepper to taste, and adjust salt. Stir in the beets and the dill. If you want a thinner consistency, more like a sauce, add more yogurt to taste.
Roasted Beet Salad
1 pound beets, washed, steams trimmed 1/2 inch above beetroot
1-tablespoon horseradish
6 Sage leaves, sliced
Pinch salt and pepper
8 ounces goat cheese
Place beet in a tightly covered casserole dish. Pour enough water to cover 1/2 inch at the bottom. Roast at 350 for 2 1/2 hours. It is cooked when the skin is slightly wrinkled and removes easily with your fingers. Remove from oven and as soon as they are cool enough to touch, remove skin and cut into about 8 1/4 inch pieces. While still warm mix well with horseradish, sage, salt and pepper. Chill for at least 2 hours. Mix well again. Add the crumbled goat cheese. Mix and serve.
Golden Beet Soup With Walnut Oil
5 pounds large gold beets, peeled and cut into 2″ chunks
2 onions, diced
1 leek, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4-cup honey
Salt and pepper
10 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup Walnut Oil
Walnut oil to drizzle on soup
Chopped chives to garnish
Saute onions and leeks in olive oil over medium heat. When vegetables begin to caramelize add honey and beets. Cook until honey bubbles. Add chicken stock and simmer until beets are very tender. Add water if liquid reduces too much. Season to taste. Let soup cool slightly and then puree in blender. Re-warm in pan and whisk in Walnut oil. Serve with drizzle of walnut oil and garnish with chives.
Roasted Winter Vegetables with Avocado Aioli
1 lemon, halved
12 baby artichokes
1-pound young carrots, tops trimmed to 1 inch
1/2 pound thin green beans
1/2 pound sugar snap peas
12 small red-skinned new potatoes
12 small beets
½ cup olive oil
Salt and Pepper
.Avocado Aioli:
2 ripe Hass avocados (about 1/2 pound each)
2 Tablespoons fresh limejuice
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 Tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Toss the carrots, green beans, snap peas, potatoes and beets with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes in a pre-heated 400-degree oven Trim the artichoke stems and cut about 1/2 inch off the tops. Remove any tough outer leaves at the base and snip the points from the remaining leaves with scissors. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the artichokes and lemon half’s and boil until tender when pierced, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well. Meanwhile halve the avocados. Scoop the flesh into a bowl. Mash with the lime juice and garlic. Scrape into a food processor and puree. With the machine on, drizzle in the oil. Scrape the puree into a bowl. Fold in the parsley and season with salt and pepper. To serve, arrange the vegetables on a large platter. Sprinkle with parsley and serve the aioli in a bowl on the
side.
Beet Risotto
3/4 pound beets (1 bunch small), roasted
1 bunch beet greens, stemmed and washed
6 to 7 cups chicken or vegetable stock, as needed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
½ dry white wine
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 to 2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (1/4 to 1/2 cup, to taste)
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Bring the stock to a simmer in a saucepan. Season well and turn the heat to low. Stack the stemmed, washed greens and cut crosswise into 1-inch wide strips. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large nonstick frying pan or wide, heavy saucepan and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until the onion begins to soften, about 3 minutes, and add the rice and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the grains of rice are separate and beginning to crackle, about 3 minutes. Stir in the wine and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. The wine should bubble, but not too quickly. You want some of the flavor to cook into the rice before it evaporates. When the wine has just about evaporated, stir in a ladleful or two of the simmering stock (about 1/2 cup), enough to just cover the rice. The stock should bubble slowly (adjust heat accordingly). Cook, stirring often, until it is just about absorbed. Add another ladleful or two of the stock and continue to cook in this fashion, not too fast and not too slowly, stirring often and adding more stock when the rice is almost dry, for 10 minutes. Stir in the greens and the diced beets, and continue adding more stock, enough to barely cover the rice, and stirring often, for another 10 to 15 minutes. Taste a bit of the rice. Is it cooked through? It should taste chewy but not hard in the middle. Definitely not soft like steamed rice. If it is still hard in the middle, you need to continue adding stock and stirring for another 5 minutes or so. Now is the time to ascertain if there is enough salt. Add if necessary. When the rice is cooked through, add a generous amount of freshly ground pepper, and stir in another half cup of stock, the Parmesan and the parsley. Remove from the heat. The rice should be creamy; if it isn’t, add a little more stock. Stir once, taste and adjust seasonings, and serve.
Fusilli With Beets, Goat Gheese and Sage
2 pounds beets (red or golden or a combo)
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2-tablespoon olive oil
1-cup chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves, coarsely chopped
1 pound fussily
1-cup goat cheese
In the top of a steamer basket steam scrubbed beets until fork tender about 30 minutes. Remove beets and let stand. When cool enough to handle, rub off skin using a paper towel. Slice beets into wedges. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente about 10 minutes. In a large bowl toss beets with garlic olive oil, stock and sage leaves. Drain the pasta and return to pot. Toss pasta with 2/3 the goat cheese reserving the rest for garnish. Add beets mixture and coat well. Divide onto 4-6 plates and sprinkle with remaining cheese and serve immediately.
Beet Ravioli
2 large red or golden beets (about 14 ounces)
1/2-cup fresh whole-milk ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs
1 1/4 pounds Fresh Egg Pasta
1/2-cup butter
8 sage leaves thinly sliced
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 400°F. Wrap beets individually in foil; place on baking sheet. Roast until tender when pierced with knife, about 1 hour. Open foil carefully (steam will escape). Cool. Peel beets; finely grate into medium bowl. Add ricotta cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in breadcrumbs.
Roll Fresh Egg Pasta dough into sheets according to recipe. Place 1 dough sheet on work surface. Using 3-inch round biscuit cutter, cut sheet into 7 rounds. Transfer rounds to lightly floured baking sheet; cover with plastic wrap. Repeat with remaining dough for total of 56 rounds.
Sprinkle 2 smooth kitchen towels with flour. Place 8 pasta rounds on work surface, keeping remaining dough covered with plastic. Place small bowl of water next to work surface. Spoon 1 teaspoon beet filling onto half of each round. Dip fingertip into water and dampen edge of 1 round. Fold dough over filling, pushing out as much air as possible and pressing edges firmly to seal. Transfer to prepared towels. Repeat with remaining rounds. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Transfer to rimmed baking sheet and place in freezer until frozen solid, about 6 hours. Transfer ravioli to plastic bag.) Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat and stir in sage; keep warm. Working in batches, cook ravioli in large pot of boiling salted water until cooked through, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to skillet with melted butter; toss to coat. Divide ravioli among 8 plates; sprinkle with Parmesan.
Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
3/4 cup + 1/4 cup butter, softened and divided
1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
6 ounces 60-70% chocolate, chopped
2 cups beet puree (about 6-7 small-medium beets roasted, peeled, and processed until smooth)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
For the ganache:
8 ounces 60-70% chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spay a bunt pan with bakers joy! In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and sift until evenly distributed. Set aside. Cream 3/4-cup butter and the sugar in the base of a standing mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs in one at a time and let beat for 3-4 minutes until doubled in volume. While the egg mixture beats, combine the chocolate with the remaining butter and microwave 20 seconds at a time, stirring each time, until melted. Stir until smooth and set aside. Add the vanilla extract to the eggs, followed by the espresso, chocolate, and the beet puree and mix until well combined. Add the flour mixture to the beet mixture and mix just until completely and evenly combined. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan with the batter angled so that it is an inch higher on the sides than in the center, and bake at 375 degrees F for about 50 minutes or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting on a wire rack. While the cake is cooling, make the ganache by combining the chocolate and butter in a medium bowl. Heat the cream through gently just until it starts to bubble and pour over the chocolate. Stir slowly until the chocolate melts and the ganache becomes smooth and glossy. Pour the ganache over the cooled cake and let set 15-20 minutes before serving.
About Karen Young
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