Recipe: Honey Roasted Carrots with Thyme…plus roasted beets and couscous

Carrots and Beets and Couscous, Oh My!

We’ve been getting lots of beautiful young carrots in our CSA lately, so I roasted up a bunch.  There’s no real recipe here.  Just trim and clean the carrots (no peeling necessary), toss with some olive oil, S&P and leaves from a few thyme branches and roast at 425 for about 45 minutes, stirring often.  When they’re done, toss with about a T of honey (we have this great stuff that is produced on a rooftop in downtown LA – doesn’t get more local than that!).  Meanwhile I tossed in the young beets, wrapped in foil and cooked them at the same time.  We made some couscous to accompany the veg – tossed with some Meyer lemon juice and topped with some parmesan.

Recipe: Easy Beet Salad

It is super easy to roast a bunch of beets on the weekend to have them handy to peel for salads and such during the week.  The salad here couldn’t have been simpler for a Monday night meal.

For the Salad

• 2 beets, cooked, cooled, peeled and sliced
• Some red leaf lettuce
• 1 orange, supremed (segments cut out)
• handful of walnuts for some protein

For the Dressing

• Orange champagne vinegar
• Juice from the supremed orange
• Olive oil
• S&P

Combine all dressing ingredients in a large bowl.  Add other ingredients.  Toss together.  serves 2.

Recipe: Shredded Root Vegetable Ragout

Deborah Madison does it again.  Somehow she combined two of my favorite ingredients (tarragon, sour cream) into a wonderful wintery dish that’s perfect for the end of a long holiday weekend (plus, it used many of our CSA veggies).  This would be good for a potluck, since you can make much of this in advance.  If you do not have a food processor with a grater attachment, run out and get one now!  This recipe can easily be made with an old box grater, but a food processor really cuts down prep time and the amount of bloody knuckles you may suffer.  Adapted from Vegetarian Suppers.

“wild rice pancake”

• 2 cups cooked wild rice or long-grain brown rice (I used a wild rice mix)
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 cup milk
• 3 T oil or melted butter
• 3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour (or AP flour)
• 2 t baking powder
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 1 T tarragon, chopped
• 1 T parsley, chopped

“the ragout”

• 2 T olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 red onion, diced
• 2 T tarragon, chopped
• 1 large beet, peeled & grated (we got some candy cane beets)
• 1 large carrot (or 3 small ones), peeled & grated
• 1 large parsnip, peeled & grated
• 4 c thinly sliced red cabbage
• 1 tart apple, peeled & grated
• 1 T tomato paste
• 1/2 cup vinegar (I did half balsamic, and half red wine b/c that’s all I had)
• 1/2 c toasted walnuts chopped (from a Christmas gift!)
• 5 oz goat cheese
• Sour cream for serving

Oil a 9×12 inch gratin dish, or a couple smaller ones.

Chop have of the rice finely and leave the rest whole.  Mix the egg yolks with the milk and oil, then whisk in the flour, baking powder, 1/2 t salt and rice.  Stir in the scallions and herbs and some pepper.

Heat oil in wile skillet with the bay leaves over med-high.  Add onion and tarragon, then beet, carrot, parsnip and cabbage.  Season with 1 t salt and cook until cabbage is tender (stirring frequently).  Halfway through the cooking, add the apple and 1/2 cup water.

Once the veggies are tender, stir in the tomato paste and vinegar.  toss well, season with pepper and turn off the heat.  Add more water if it looks too dry.  Stir in the nuts and then transfer to the baking dish(es).  Place aside.  Preheat oven to 375.

When ready to bake, crumble goat cheese into the veggies and toss.  Whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff and fold into the rice batter.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Enjoy with sour cream and a nice white wine.

This recipe would also be good just as shredded root veggies, sauteed, and served with rice, etc.  Had not really thought of grating root veggies before like this, but it’s so easy and delicious!

Some Recent Meals

Quinoa and Greens Pie with Mashed Turnips and Beet Chips

Crumpets with Chamomile Creme Anglaise & Blueberries

Wine Braised Turnips and Kohlrabi with Salad and Sausage

Kale and White Bean Soup with Home Made Stock

Strawberry Morning Muffins

Mother's Day Lunch

Beet, Citrus and Avocado Salad

Radish, Mint and Cream Cheese Finger Sandwiches

Beet Green & Mushroom Quiche

Mac 'n' Cheese with Braised Collard Greens

Recipe: Beet Pizza

Obviously, I love pizza.  And I love beets, so why not combine the two?

Ingredients

• 2 beets (one golden, one red) cooked and diced (you can bake the beets a few days before, like I did)
• chiffonade of beet greens
• shredded mozzarella cheese
• crumbled feta cheese
• 1 t fresh rosemary, chopped
• local honey (from my mother-in-law’s neighbor in the Valley)
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• whole wheat pizza dough

Preheat your oven and stretch out your dough.  Top with the shredded mozzarella, then the beet greens, then the beets, then the feta, rosemary and shallots.  Drizzle a bit of honey over the whole thing (not too much) and pop into the oven.  So delicious!  Sweet, savory, salty, yum!

Recipe: Raw Beet Salad with Arugula and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Don’t have patience to cook your beets for an hour?  Here’s an easy solution.  The beets definitely take on a different flavor, and stay very crunchy, but their good raw, not like raw potatoes, more like raw celeriac.

Ingredients

• 2 beets (1 golden, 1 red) thinly sliced on a mandolin
• small handful mint, chopped
• a few T chives, chopped
• 3 T white wine vinegar
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch arugula, including flowers
• good olive oil
• feta

Combine the shallot and vinegar in a large bowl and let marinate for about 10 minutes, to cut the edge of the shallot.  Add the mint and chives and stir to combine with a pinch of salt.  Then add the thinly sliced golden beets and let marinate for about 5 minutes.  Remove the beets and arrange on a plate, reserving the liquid.  Add the red beets to the vinegar and let marinate for 5 minutes.  This will turn the vinegar red.  Artfully arrange the red beets on the plate with the yellow ones.  Drizzle some olive oil on the beets on the plates.  Add more olive oil to the remaining vinegar in the large bowl.  Add the arugula, some S&P and toss.  Plate the arugula in the middle of the beets.  Scatter feta on top of everything.  Garnish with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Recipe: Dill Roasted Beet Goat Cheese Crostini with Arugula Salad

Yay for beets!  The better the goat cheese, the better this dish is, so splash out for the good stuff.  I’ve never been a big fan of dill – not sure why (dill pickles?) but they added a nice touch to the beets without a lot of overpowering flavor.  This dish was super satisfying paired with a simple arugula salad in a balsamic vinaigrette .

Ingredients for the beets

• 4 beets (2 red and 2 yellow)
• 2 T butter
• 1/4 cup dill, chopped
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 400.  Trim and wash the beets.  Wrap each beet individually in foil and bake in a dish for 40 minutes to an hour, or until a sharp knife easily pierces the beet (if the beets are different sizes, some will cook faster than others).  Cool enough to handle.  Wearing rubber gloves (to keep your skin from turning pink), peel off the skin and trim any problem areas with a knife.  Keep the red beets separate from the yellow ones.  Chop into 1/2 inch pieces and set aside.  Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large pan, toss in the dill and squeeze the lemon into the mixture.  Toss the beets in the butter (yellow ones first, then red) and set aside.

Ingredients for the Crostini

• 4 thick slices seeded whole grain bread, toasted
• 4 oz good goat cheese
• Beets, prepared as above

To assemble, lavish the cheese on the toast and gently place the beets on top.  Serve with an arugula salad.  Enjoy!

Recipe: Beet & Goat Cheese Salad

Nothing mind blowing here in terms of flavor profiles, etc.  but this was a tasty salad!  Inspired by this recipe from the NY Times we used lots of greens and all our beets.  I don’t think i’ve ever actually cooked beets, but the NY Times technique made it mess-less and quick.

Ingredients for roasted beets

• 3 beets, peeled, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• olive oil
• red wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 375.  Toss the beets in the oil & vinegar, salt & pepper.  Spread out in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet and cover with another piece of foil.  Crimp the edges a bit to make a packet and cook for 20 minutes.  Remove the foil lid, stir the beets around and cook for another 15-20 minutes, or until the beets are done.

Ingredients for the salad

• 2 bunches arugula
• red wine vinegar
• olive oil
• 2 t chopped tarragon
• 1 large clove garlic, chopped
• goat cheese, to taste

Wash and dry arugula well.  In a small bowl, combine vinegar, oil, tarragon and garlic and whisk to combine.  Toss with salad and salt & pepper.  Crumble goat cheese and toss with salad.  Plate salad, top with more goat cheese, beets, and garlic bread.