The Beet goes on - Beet, Orange, and Red Onion Salad

I've grown more fond of beets as time goes on. From the oven roasted tiny jewels from last summer, to the Beet Ginger relish, I love the earthy flavor and beautiful colors.

This next one is adapted from the Financial Times food columnist Rowley Leigh January 14, 2011 article "Acid Beets"

I've left out a few things he included, namely mint and black olives, but it is still delicious. This elegant salad is simple as can be.

Ingredients:

Beets

Oranges

Red Onion

Olive oil

Red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Steam the beets until tender, then peel and cut into slice about 1/4" thick

Put the beets in a bowl, add a pinch of salt and and a splash of the vinegar. Toss  very gently.

Cut the ends off the oranges and cut the peels of lengthwise. Slice peeled oranges about as thick as the beets.

Next, slice the red onions into thin rings. I used a mandolin instead of a knife.

Assemble the salad by putting down a layer of sliced beets. followed by a layer of orange slices topped by a pinch of salt, grind of black pepper, dash of vinegar and dribble of olive oil. Add a layer of the sliced onions.

Repeat.

Top with a little more olive oil if you choose.

Enjoy! Sweet, tangy, earthy, tender and crunchy, this salad has great flavor and textural contrasts. Plus, once the beets are cooked, it's ready in about 10 minutes.  Try it as a sophisticated starter, or with some crusty bread as a light meal.

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
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Oven Roasted Mahi Mahi, Creamed Beet Greens, fresh bread

Nothing fancy tonight, a bit of fish, some creamed beet greens and a bit of bread.

Some nice pieces of mahi mahi.

Salt & pepper and hot paprika

Into a hot pan with oil, sear for 2  minutes and into a 400F oven for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, perfect fish!

A pile of beet greens

A bit of butter and chopped onion, saute.

Add a heaping tablespoon of flour, cook while stirring a few minutes. You want to cook the raw flour flavor out.

Add a cup of milk, bring to  boil and cook 2 minutes, add the greens and stir to coat.

I sliced open the bread.

Plate it all up, the greens have a pink tinge as the beets bled into the sauce. As I said, simple but delicious.

That's about it for the weekend, until next time.... Eat Well & Keep Digging

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Oven Roasted Beets

Back in late August we put in some radishes and beets. The radishes have all been harvested and eaten, and I have a few beets waiting to be roasted.  Simple is best.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Beets, salt & pepper, a splash of olive oil. wrap it up and put into hot oven.

50 Minutes later...

Slice them in half, slip them out of their jackets. Plate. Olive Oil. A grind of pepper.

Serve and enjoy. Simple, but oh so good!

Until Next Time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Beet and Ginger Relish

On Wednesday July 28 in the Chicago Tribune Good eating section there was an article by Bill Daley. In it he published a recipe for Beet and Ginger relish. It was taken from “Forgotten Skills of Cooking” by Darina Allen. I had some beets that I harvested on Wednesday but did not get to until today. I’m having a fish fry tonight so something bright and cold should make a nice contrast.


The ingredients are:

8 ounces onion, chopped – about 1 large
3 Tbs butter
3 Tbs sugar
½ tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lb raw beets, peeled & grated
1 piece (1/2' inch long) ginger root, peeled and grated
½ cup red wine
2 Tbs sherry vinegar


By the way tha's red wine vinegar as I didn't have any sherry vinegar.

Peel the beets, aren't they pretty? They look like some exotic grained wood.

Grate the beets and the ginger. I used the machine but you could use a box grater. Just be sure to account for the juice splattering!

Combine onions and butter into a nonreactive saucepan; cook over medium low heat until very soft – about 10 minutes.

Stir in the sugar, salt and pepper.

Add the beets, ginger, red wine and vinegar.

Cook for 30 minutes over low heat.

In my case I cooled and put in the fridge. You could can it it.

I'll be enjoying this tonight with a walleye fry, but it should be good with cold meats, or goat cheese salads.

8/1/2010 UPDATE: - this was absolutely delicious and a big hit with our guests. The cool crunchy relish was a great counterpoint to the hot fried walleye. Thanks for coming Tod and Kelly!

Eat well!




The Gastronomic Gardener

My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt