Beet and Lentil Salad

This salad was taken from Gordon Ramsey's Cooking for Friends. A perfect summer lunch incorporating roasted red and thinly shaved raw chioggia beets which are simply beautiful.

MARINATED BEETS 
1 Chiogga beet

2-3 Tbsp Olive oil
2-3 Tbsp Sherry vinegar
1 Tbsp shallot, minced
Salt and pepper

- Peel the chioggia beet and using a mandoline, slice into very thin slices.

- Combine the rest of the ingredients and pour over the beets. Let marinate in the fridge for at least 20 minutes

FOR THE SALAD - serves 2

Cooked lentils (I cook a large-ish batch and then use throughout the week)
Mixed greens - spring greens, arugula, mizuna etc.
4 Roasted red beets
Marinated Beet
1-2 ounces of a firm sheep's cheese, diced (I used Carr Valley's Mobay Cheese, which is a goat & sheep blend)

- Cut the roasted beets into quarters if small, cut down further if large

- On each plate spread 2 heaping Tbsp of lentils, 1/2 the roasted beets and 1/2 the cheese. Top with a handful of the greens and 1/2 of the marinated beets.

- Drizzle the marinade on the greens and around the plate.

Beautiful Beets

Beets are one of my favorite vegetables. They can be found and used year round, but fresh beets in summer are truly special, and the greens can be sauteed as a side like you would spinach. I made a salad using both red and chioggia beets. There are few food sights as the pink and white striations on the chioggia beets!

Beets can be eaten raw, roasted or braised. Sliced thinly they are delicious raw. I've played around with braising and roasting beets as well, most recently roasting beets nestled in the coals of a grill while cooking lamb chops.

Here are a few ways to prepare this delicious and beautiful veggie!

RAW BEETS
- Peel outer layer
- Slice thinly and enjoy

ROASTED BEETS IN THE OVEN
- Preheat the oven to 375
- Wrap beets in tin foil
- Roast for 30-45 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a knife
- When cool enough to handle, use a paper towel and rub off the outer layer

ROASTED BEETS ON THE GRILL
- Wrap beets in tin foil
- While the coals are hot and being used to cook something, nestle the tin foil packets in the coals
- Roast for 30-45 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a knife. Cooking times might be longer depending on the heat of the coals, it's an experiment in process!

SAUTEED BEETS GREENS
- Rinse greens and discard tough ends of stems
- Heat olive oil in a pan
- Add a couple of cloves of minced garlic
- Add greens to pan and saute until wilted
- Season with salt and pepper and a splash of lemon if desired.

Anniversary Eve Dinner

Jason and I recently celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary! We dined at The Girl & the Goat on the actual day, which was an amazing meal that exceeded all expectations. The night before, a Sunday, we followed our usual Sunday tradition of hunkering down to cook a meal together and enjoy al fresco dining on the porch.

Our anniversary eve menu included:

Filet
Roasted potatoes
Sauteed beet greens
Ragu of asparagus, garlic scape, and shiitake mushrooms

With the meal we enjoyed a bottle of Brunello we carried back with us from Montalcino on our 1 year anniversary trip back to Tuscany!

Sauteed Beet Greens

We have beautiful little beets coming up in the corner farm and I brought home a handful the other day after watering. The greens were so beautiful and are usually overlooked as an edible part of the plant. Immediately after getting home I cut the greens of the beets and store them in a separate plastic bag in the crisper. They can be sauteed just like any other green and make for a delicious side. I usually discard part of the stems if they are especially long, but like to leave some stem for a little crunch.

SAUTEED BEET GREENS

- beet greens
- oil
- 1-2 cloves garlic
- pinch red pepper flakes
- salt

-Heat oil in a pan, add the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute until they just start to sizzle

-Add the beet greens and cook until wilted

-Finish with a dash of salt and serve!

Roasted Baby Beet and Blood Orange Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette

This recipe is adapted from the Girl & The Fig cookbook.  Jason and I and two good friends had an amazing lunch at the Girl & the Fig while vacationing in Sonoma last February, and the cookbook appeared in my easter basket!

This is a great winter salad, although instead of the watercress it calls for, which we simply couldn't get our hands on, we used arugula, and some gorgeous yellow beets.  It was a lovely start to the meal and Jason plated it beautifully.

ROASTED BABY BEET AND BLOOD ORANGE SALAD WITH CHAMPAGNE VINAIGRETTE

Makes 10 servings

6 large beets
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup champagne vinaigrette
3 blood oranges, segments only (supreme)
8 oz arugula (approximately)
salt and pepper
parmesan, thinly shaved

--Preheat oven to 350

--Place beets on top of tin foil, cover with the olive oil, fold the foil into packets and place on a baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour

--Cool enough to handle, then peel off the skins and slice the beets into thin slices

--Toss the arugula with the champagne vinaigrette

--On the plate, lay down 2-3 overlapping slices of beet with a pinch of salt and pepper

--Lay 3-4 blood orange segments along the top of the plate

--Top the beets with a mound of arugula and garnish with the shaved cheese

Beet and Potato Soup

OK, so it's been months and months since I posted.  I regret that I didn't get to document and share all the wonderful cooking we did this summer, but sometimes that's how it goes.  I aspired to live every second to the fullest this summer and enjoy the outdoors to the best of my ability, and given the gorgeous summer, sitting at my laptop just never happened.

But fall has arrived full force, and grad school, so my inside time has increased dramatically.  And with grad school comes fiscal awareness and a renewed pledge to cook all our food, as easily and simply as possible (most days), to waste as little as possible, and still enjoy delicious meals.

This soup got us through more than a week, filling in meal gaps here and there.  The gift of a peck of beets I received made this a no-brainer.

ROASTED BEET AND POTATO SOUP

2 lbs beets - scrubbed, peeled and diced
1 lb potatoes - peeled and diced
2 shallots - chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
A few sprigs of thyme
Salt
Pepper
6 cups broth (vegetable or chicken, low-sodium)
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
Sour Cream (optional)

Preheat over to 400

Toss the beets, potatoes, thyme, olive oil, salt and pepper together

Line a baking sheet with tin foil and bake the mixture about 45 minutes, until the beets and potatoes are cooked through. 

Remove thyme and add vegetables to soup pot along with the broth and bring to a simmer.  Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until desired consistency.

Stir in vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream.