Roasted Beet Salad

 

 

Roasting beets whole concentrates their sugars, color, nutrition and delightful taste. Then turning those roasted beets into a salad with a little onion, parsley, sugar and vinegar produces a beautiful as well as delightful dish that is part of many traditions. Such a salad adds a “wow” to the dinner. 

Roasted beet salad is particularly associated with Greek and Turkish cooking (where it is often topped with yogurt or feta cheese). But the salad can also be made without dairy. Toasted walnuts are optional, but they enhance the contrasts as well as the protein value.

 

Beet salad can also be made with boiled or microwaved beets, or even canned beets. But it lacks intensity, and can be insipid, in my view. Roasting the beets takes some time, but it’s time in the oven while the cook can be working on other things.

 

Here’s a delightful roasted beet salad in the vegan tradition. The recipe serves six or more, but extra salad is great as a leftover.

 

1 pound fresh whole red beets, preferably all about the same size

A little vegetable or olive oil to moisten the surfaces

1 tablespoon very thinly sliced onion (lengthwise, “julienne” style)

2 sprigs fresh parsley, preferably flat “Italian” type, leaves coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons cider or wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

3 tablespoons toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

 

Rub the whole beets with a little oil or spray with baker’s spray. Place on a baking sheet and roast at 375 degrees until tender when pierced with a toothpick. That will take 40-60 minutes, depending on size of the beets. Let cool.

 

With sharp knife, peel and scrape off skin from the beets (a little messy, an apron is suggested). Slice beets 1/8-inch thick. Stack slices a few at a time and cut into 1/2-inch strips. Place in mixing bowl.

 

Add onion, parsley, vinegar, sugar and salt and mix well. Let rest ten minutes, then mix well again. Taste a piece of beet and a little of the accumulated juice. If preferred, add a little more vinegar and/or sugar and/or salt, to taste.

 

This can be served now, after a final mixing, or chilled and served later. Serve in a shallow bowl or on a platter. If desired, top with coarsely chopped toasted walnuts.

 

 

Quinoa Pilaf -- Easy

 

 

I’m a recent convert to quinoa. I’m not sure quite why it took me so long. Probably because the grain had such a cultish following, and because I loved rice so much in so many forms.

 

But trying to get more iron into the diets of several family members and cooking occasionally for several people dealing with diabetes or pre-diabetes, have both encouraged me to try more dishes with quinoa. The grain (technically a seed) is highly nutritious and has a relatively low glycemic index.

 

What I have learned is that quinoa is easy to cook, is fairly flexible in the variety of dishes that can be prepared with it, and (most important to me) I find I like quinoa. I’ll still cook and love rice, potatoes, grits/polenta, and pasta, but now I’ve expanded my repertoire for side dishes.

 

Raw quinoa has a negative feature that needs to be dealt with for best flavor. The seeds have a light coating of naturally occurring, bitter, soap-like saponins, which apparently give the plant protection from grazing animals and microbial organisms. This should be removed by washing the grains before cooking. (Some quinoa is already washed before it is sold, in which case further washing is not necessary.)

 

Here’s a pilaf-style dish I made using red quinoa, which is very attractive. White, black or tri-colored quinoa would also work. I used a rice cooker, but also suggest how to cook the dish on the stove-top instead.

 

The recipe serves six as a side dish.

 

1 1/2 cups quinoa, red or mixed color for attractiveness

1/2 small onion, finely diced

1 small Roma-type tomato, cored and finely diced

3 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme or a medium pinch of dry thyme

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Pinch of cayenne

2 2/3 cups vegetable broth, or water

Minced parsley for garnish, optional

 

Place quinoa in the rice cooker container or the pot in which it will be cooked. Add plenty of cool water, then rub the grains between your hands for a minute or so. Drain off the water through a sieve and rinse well with running water. Drain, then return rinsed quinoa to the rice cooker container or cooking pot.

 

Add all the remaining ingredients and stir well.

 

Rice cooker method: Cover and turn on rice cooker. Let cook through its full cycle, then rest, unopened, for ten minutes after the light switches from cook to “keep warm.” After 10 minutes, open cooker and fluff quinoa with a rice paddle or fork to mix well. Remove the bay leaves as you see them. Cover and keep warm until served.

 

Stove-top method: Keeping pot uncovered, bring contents to a boil. Stir, cover pot, and reduce heat to the lowest setting. Set timer for 20 minutes. At 20 minutes, keep pot covered but turn off the heat and let rest 10 minutes. Open and fluff quinoa with a rice paddle or fork to mix well. Remove bay leaves as you see them. Cover again until served.

 

If quinoa cools off, or there is some left over, it’s easy to reheat in a microwave oven in a covered casserole, fluffing a time or two during reheating.

 

Serve in a shallow bowl, dusting the top with a little minced parsley, if desired.

 

 

Spicy Pinto Beans

 

 

Here’s an easily made pinto bean dish of the sort that goes well as an ingredient in tacos, fajitas, nachos, enchiladas, quesadillas, and burritos. Alternatively, the beans go well with rice as a lunch or snack.

 

The recipe serves six people as a light meal, or serves more people if used as an ingredient in one of the Tex-Mex dishes mentioned above.

 

1 small green bell pepper or 1/2 a medium one

1 medium jalapeño pepper

1 small onion or 1/2 a medium one

1 clove garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 (14-ounce) cans pinto beans

1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder, if available, or 1 extra teaspoon regular chili powder

1 teaspoon regular chili powder, or 2 teaspoons if chipotle chili powder not used

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/3 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup water

Coarsely chopped cilantro for garnish, if desired

 

Core the bell pepper and cut it in chunks. Cut the stem off the jalapeño, and cut the jalapeño in half, keeping the seeds. Peel the onion and the garlic clove. Chop all four vegetables very finely in a food processor, or on a cutting board with a chef’s knife. Place vegetable mixture in a heavy pot with the olive oil. Set aside.

 

Open the cans of beans, and holding their lids on, drain off as uch liquid as you can, but do not rinse. Add 1 cup of water to one of the cans of beans. Measure the salt and dry seasonings and put them in a small bowl or cup.

 

Place the pot with the chopped vegetables and olive oil on the stove, and fry, stirring very frequently, until the vegetables are softened, but not browned. Add the beans and their water plus the spices to the pot. Heat, simmering for about ten minutes, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom of the pot, so that the beans don’t stick.

 

Remove from the heat. Taste, and add salt if needed.

 

Use a a lunch dish with rice, sprinkled with chopped parsley, or use as an ingredient on nachos, quesadillas, enchiladas, tacos, fajitas or burritos.

 

 

Red Lentil Dal with Spinach, a good Iron Source

 

One of my teenage grandchildren has been vegetarian for some years. And as she is active in sports, getting enough iron to avoid anemia is a challenge. She loves Indian food, and does some cooking. So this one is for her. 

Lentils, and especially red lentils (called “masoor dal” in India), and spinach (called “palak” or “saag” in India) are both good sources of dietary iron. They also have many other nutritional benefits, including protein, soluble and insoluble fiber, and multiple vitamins.

 

Here is a delicious vegan version of an Indian vegetarian dish, Dal Saag (or Dal Palak), that brings together these two fine iron sources. It also makes a great meal, accompanied by rice or chapati flat bread, plus a fresh chutney (I have a good recipe for fresh tomato chutney elsewhere in this blog).

 

Masoor dal, split and hulled red (or “Egyptian”) lentils, are available inexpensively at supermarkets, Indian stores, and natural food stores. The spices are relatively readily available at the same places. Frozen spinach is the easiest for this cooking, but fresh could be used if preferred. Indian cooks would typically fry part of the cumin seeds and part of the onion in a little oil (or clarified butter -- ghee) and stir it in at the end for heightened flavor. For simplicity (and for a teen-aged cook) I leave that step out and just cook all the seasonings in with the lentils.

 

The recipe makes about a quart and a half, enough for six people. It keeps well in the fridge and reheats easily in the microwave.

 

1 1/2 cup split red lentils

5 cups water

3 tablespoons vegetable oil (not olive)

1 small onion finely chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric

1 1/4 teaspoons whole cumin seeds (or ground as a second choice)

1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seeds (or ground as a second choice)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

1 (12-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach (not thawed)

Coarsely chopped cilantro for garnish, if desired

 

Rinse and drain the lentils. Place in a pot with the water. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of thee pot. Skim off and discard the foam that arises as the lentils boil.

 

Add the oil, onion and spices (not the salt), and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the pot, until lentils are tender and start to disintegrate, 25-30 minutes. If the mixture is getting somewhat dry, add a little water.

Add the salt and simmer a few more minutes.

 

Finally, add the frozen spinach, and stirring frequently, cook only until the spinach is heated. Do not cook after the mixture boils.

 

Remove from the heat, taste for salt and add a little if needed. Let cool. The flavors are enhanced as the mixture rests.

 

Reheat to serve. Top lightly with coarsely chopped cilantro leaves, if desired, when using as part of an Indian meal with rice or chapati.

 

 

Spring Greens and Strawberry Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette – All Year Long

 

Bright, young leafy greens and gorgeous red strawberries combine for a delightful salad that screams “springtime.” But -- happily -- the story is  more complicated.

 

“Spring Mix,” a collection of young salad greens is now available throughout the year. And most of it is hydroponically grown in greenhouses. Increasingly it’s produced locally in all seasons. Strawberries, which in my childhood were very seasonal and locally grown, are available year round, and are either shipped in, or now also greenhouse grown. Strawberries are safest if organic or at least raised in greenhouses.

 

Here’s my “springtime” salad offering, which was previously a column in Boom Magazine, an Athens publication for which I regularly write about food and cooking.

Using some of the strawberries, particularly the less beautiful ones in the package, to infuse the salad dressing makes the salad an even more intense celebration of spring. And, thanks to modern agriculture, it can be enjoyed any time of year.

 

The recipe serves six. The salad dressing can be made in advance.

 

1 pint (16 ounces) strawberries, organic or greenhouse grown

1 sprig fresh mint or other herb, optional

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt, plus to taste

3 tablespoons wine vinegar or cider vinegar

2 tablespoons water

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 1/2 tablespoons sunflower oil or part olive oil

4 cups (loosely measured) spring mix salad greens (from supermarket)

 

Divide the strawberries into two halves, the prettiest berries in one half. Save those for topping the salad.

 

Using the less pretty berries, cut off the hulls and stems and chop or mash the berries finely. Mix them in a bowl with the fresh herb, if used, sugar, salt, vinegar and water. Mix well and allow to sit for an hour or more. Put mixture through a strainer into another bowl and press down firmly to extract the juices. Discard the squeezed-out strawberry pulp. Add the black pepper and oil to the liquid in the bowl. Mix and taste for salt, adding a little, if needed, to taste. It should be faintly salty.

 

Place the spring mix (no need to rinse the leaves if the package indicates they were already washed) in a salad bowl. Hull the reserved (prettier} strawberries. Slice them from top to bottom 1/4-inch thick and distribute them on top of the salad greens. Transfer the dressing to an attractive jar. Just before serving, and preferably at the table for the diners to see, toss the dressing with the greens and berries.

 

Red White and Blue Potato Salad for the 4^th of July

 

I love potato salad, preferably tangy sweet-sour potato salad without a lot of glubby mayonnaise.

 

Fourth of July, Independence Day, backyard “barbecues” in my childhood always included potato salad. I thought it must be the most American, and patriotic, of dishes. Those things someone cooked on the grill, after all, were named for Germanic cities.

 

Of course, later I learned that potato salad is a specialty throughout central and northern Europe, from Germany to Sweden to Russia and all points in between. Ah well!

 

For fun, I now make Fourth of July potato salad in the colors of red, white and blue. That’s not to be confused with the French national colors “bleu, blanc et rouge” (blue, white and red), or the Russian colors, white, blue and red.

 

When I began this culinary prank, I used small red-skinned potatoes and purple-blue potatoes. But the red skins cook to a weak pinkish tan and the blue potatoes fade to pale violet. That’s pretty wimpy for the Fourth of July.

 

Now I go bold, as our national honor dictates: red from diced or sliced beets and blue from blueberries to perk up the white of the potatoes. The beets are stirred into the salad briefly before serving so they don’t stain it pink. Pink potato and beet salad is a specialty in Sweden and Russia, especially around the winter holidays.

 

The trick for making good potato salad is proper simmering, not hard boiling, of the potatoes to achieve firmness yet without an under-cooked crunch.

 

The recipe serves 6 to 10 as a side dish or appetizer.

 

3 pounds small-medium yellow-skinned or russet potatoes

1 large fresh beet or equivalent in canned whole beets

1/4 cup minced onion

4 tablespoons plant-based “mayonnaise” (Hellmann’s works well)

4 tablespoons white vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 3/4 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

 

In large, uncovered pan with plenty of water, bring potatoes just to a simmer over medium heat. Do not boil them or cover the pan. If water begins boiling, pour in a little cold water to slow it. Swirl the pan occasionally to gently move the potatoes around. After 10-12 minutes, start testing a potato for doneness by piercing with a toothpick. Continue simmering until potatoes are just tender. Remove from the heat. Drain and cool.

 

In a separate pan of water, boil the raw beet, if used, unpeeled. When tender when pierced with toothpick, let it cool. Peel it. Alternatively, use canned whole beets of roughly similar total volume to a large beet. Cut in small dice, or if small canned beets, slice them 1/8 inch thick. Season with a little salt and 1 teaspoon of vinegar. Set aside.

 

Peel potatoes. Slice them 1/4 inch thick, first cutting in half lengthwise if large. Place in a large bowl for easy mixing. 

 

Mince onion. Mix it in a small bowl with "mayonnaise," vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper until mayonnaise breaks up.

 

Stir mixture into potatoes, mixing gently with a large spoon or hands (use plastic gloves). Let sit for 10 minutes. Mix again and taste. If necessary, add salt, vinegar and/or sugar. The taste should be slightly salty (the potato will absorb more) and tangy sweet-sour.

 

Potato salad is best if made in advance and refrigerated a few hours or up to several days.

 

Shortly before serving, stir again. Taste and add salt, if needed. Stir in diced beets (drained) and part of blueberries.

 

Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with remaining blueberries.

 

Rice Pilaf with Peaches and Rosemary

 

With peaches coming in strong here in Georgia, I enjoy cooking savory dishes with them, as well as enjoy them as fruit. Rosemary, which is year-round here, makes a nice foil to the peach flavor, at least if used sparingly.

 

“Pilaf” historically applies to rice cooked with a seasoned broth and added meat, seafood, vegetables or fruits and nuts. Here’s a version using seasonal peaches. Rosemary and a few whole spices add delicate flavor highlights.  The dish will go well with grilled food or a savory braised dish.

 

The recipe serves six.

 

1 1/2 cups Basmati or other long grained rice

2 large or three medium peaches

2 tablespoons white wine

Water (see instructions below)

1 medium shallot or 1/2 small onion, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional)

18 individual leaves taken off a sprig of rosemary

6 whole peppercorns

2 whole cloves

Minced fresh parsley for garnish

 

Rinse rice several times and drain well. Set aside to “dry” somewhat.

 

Peel peaches. Chop flesh coarsely. Place in large (4-cup) measuring cup with the wine. Add enough water to bring the volume up to 2-3/4 cups.

 

Mince shallot or onion. Heat a heavy pot and fry onion in olive oil, stirring frequently, until onion is limp and beginning to become golden. Add drained (and somewhat dried) rice and stir and fry one minute.

 

Add peaches and liquid mixture plus salt, sugar if used, rosemary, peppercorns and cloves. Stir.

 

Bring to a boil, without stirring until after rice is fully cooked. Reduce heat to low, cover pot. Simmer, covered without opening, 20 minutes. Do not lift lid, but turn off heat and let sit 10 minutes.

 

Remove visible rosemary leaves and whole spices from the surface. Fluff rice with a fork.

 

Serve, sprinkled with minced parsley.