I'm red but not embarassed ...

I'm hot for you, baby
I'm a big old beet
I'm red but not embarassed
and I'm good with meat
Of course, I make an excellent borscht
and I'm hot for you, baby!

The Hot Beet Song from the Brak Show :)

No meat or borscht today. But we're definitely talking about a red beet, red enough to stain our penne :) We're pretty big fans of penne - always seems like the perfect length for pasta, thick and chewy and lately, there seem to be a plethora of varieties that are insanely tasty - like the fabulous whole wheat and flax version carried by TJs.

This recipe was a quick'n'easy thrown together on one of thost post-workout nights when one craves carbs - the healthy kind, made all the better when tosses with an abundance of vegetables. We settled for a whole wheat penne, tossed with marinated beets and a few other vegetables. The killer flavour though was the dry curds we added as an afterthought!

If you haven't tried Sunshine Ithe most common brand of dry curds) as yet, I would strongly recommend it. It is a little hard to find, we've only consistently found it at Whole Foods. These dry curds make for a great substitute for cottage cheese - drier, chunkier, WAY less sodium, tons of protein and they absorb flavours incredibly well. We've used them with pastas, in salads, even in purees for sauces - every single option has worked outstandingly well. And when you're in training and trying to load up on protein, it makes for incredible nutrition, especially for someone who is predominantly vegetarian!

*****

Beet-stained Penne + vegetables
I'm definitely red, but not embarassed :)

Servings: 2

3 cups of whole wheat penne - cooked al dente
1/2 vidalia onion - sliced long
1 red beet -diced
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 T olive oil
8-10 large green olives (pitted)
1 cup Sunshine dry curds
8-10 brussel sprouts - sliced thick
salt, red pepper flakes
1 T dried marjoram

Mix 1 T of olive oil and the balsamic vinegar and toss with the diced beets.
Let the beet bits marinate for about 1/2 hour.

Heat the remaining 1T of olive oil and saute the onions till browned.
Add the sliced brussel sprouts and saute for 3-4 minutes.
If the olives are marinated in brine, wipe them clean and slice them.
Add the olive, salt and marjoram and saute for 1-2 minutes.
Add the cooked penne and toss till all ingredients are well mixed.
Add the dry curds and saute for another minute or 2 on low.
Take off the heat and toss with the beets, add the marinade into the pasta too.
Season with red pepper flakes (and salt) as needed.

*****

Opinion?

Simple and really tasty - we kind of achieved the optimal blend of sweet and tart flavours accentuated with a touch of spice. And the dry curds totally absorbed the juices, making for a succulent addition to the pasta!

Quick? Definitely! Pasta? Hell Yes! Off this goes to Ruth of Once Upon a Feast for Presto Pasta Night. :)

And the beet obsession continues ...

Over the last several weeks, I've been feeling a lot of beet love - like this time and this and several more that I didn't write about - Maybe this blog should really be Cooking from Beet to Z? :)

Well, January hasn't had a beet post yet, and this simple daal recipe was so light and flavourful that we just have to talk about it! I was originally hoping to concoct a marinated beets + moong sprouts salad, but on a cold winter night, the craving was for something warm and heartier. Seriously, it feels like January has been one giant wet blanket, cloudy and rainy all the time, I'm totally ready for a sunbreak!

In this recipe, we went with a simple stir fry of red onions, beets, some yellow squash and cherry tomatoes finally topped off with cooked masoor daal. The seasoning was really simple too - cumin and a dash of fenugreek. But the best part of it was the generous squeeze of Meyer lemon juice at the end - this totally livened up the dish and imparted this sweet-sour flavour that went really well with the dominant beet tastes.

Beet Daal
With a generous dash of citrus love!

Servings: 2

1 cup of masoor daal
1/2 red onion - sliced long
2 beets - peeled and julienned
1/2 yellow squash - sliced long
4-5 cherry tomatoes
3-4 thai green chillies - sliced long
1 t cumin seeds
1 t sesame oil
1/2 t fenugreek seeds - freshly roasted and ground
kosher salt
juice of 1 Meyer lemon

Cook the masoor daal on the stove or in a pressure cooker till done (I typically use 1.5 cups of water for a cup of masoor daal)

Heat the oil in a wok and roast the cumin seeds till brown.
Add the onions and green chillies and saute till the onions start to brown.
Throw in the beets and squash and saute for 4-5 minutes.
Now add the tomatoes along with the fenugreek and cook covered on low for another 2-3 minutes.
Season with salt and saute for another 30 seconds.

Stir in the lemon juice just before serving.


Good?
We loved it! Simple flavours that made for a delicious daal!

Root vegetable kurma

Beetroots. *drool*.

Every once in a while, I dream of frolicking in this endless vegetable garden. And my garden is teeming with beets - those fabulous crimson nether parts :)

Red beets, sugar beets, chiogga beets, they all taste fabulous - earthy, sweet, succulent, flavorful, pungent, I could go on, huh? Apparently, there are the globe-shaped varietals that we regularly encounter, and then there are the cylindrical ones that I haven't seen yet - these carrot-shaped beets are apparently more common in intensive vegetable plots.

Beet Etymology Trivia:

* Maybe from an imagined resemblance to the greek letter beta - this sounds like a serious stretch of imagination!
* Maybe from the Celtic word "bett" meaning red - a little more plausible, I guess.

Parsnips. *drool*.

My dream garden is also teeming with parsnips - easily one of my favorite vegetable smells.

They make for fabulous soups, taste divine when roasted. the options are endless! And the nutrition value is a total bonus - it is replete with potassium and dietary fibre. I'm definitely planting some of these next year.

Random Parsnip Trivia:

* Considered to be an aphrodisiac by the Romans - more reason to eat them, Yay!
* In Ireland, it was used for making beer and wine


So, what could be better than a dish that combines beet and beet greens and parsnips?! Wooooo!! This was another quick recipe that exploded with earthy flavours, meant to be made
again and again.

Root Vegetable Kurma
Beets, Parnips, Onions ... Yum!

Servings: 2

1 yellow onion - sliced long
1 red beet - julienned
2 medium chiogga beets - julienned
2 small parsnips - julienned
a handful of chopped beet greens
7-8 curry leaves
1 large vine tomato - chopped
1 T grated ginger
4 cloves garlic - smashed
4 green chillies - sliced long
1 T sesame oil
salt

Masala:
1/2" stick cinnamon
2 cloves
1 cardamom pod
1 t turmeric
1 T grated coconut
1 t khuskhus

Dry roast all the masala ingredients and grind to a coarse powder.
Heat the oil in a wok and saute the onions and curry leaves till they start to brown.
Add the ginger, garlic and green chillies and saute for 2-3 minutes.
Now toss in the beets and parsnips and cook covered on low for 5-6 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and beet greens along with the ground masala and salt and stir.
Simmer covered for 7-8 minutes.

Serve with rotis - we ended up making rolls stuffed with the kurma - worked really well :)

Beet Orange Salad ... and eternal admiration for Alice Waters!

Chez Panisse ... The name sets me aquiver. Organic, sustainable, local, ecologically sound, and above all fabulously delectable. *drool*. Well, I don't live in Berkeley, I've only been there once, but the memories are firmly imprinted, waiting to be refreshed. Well, I don't really remember what I ate, but I remember loving it ... every bite of it! And I can't wait to be back! In the meantime, I make do with reading Alice Waters' cookbooks - sometimes before going to bed! Nothing like waking up with amaranth or fennel on the mind, huh? :)

So, yesterday, Chez Panisse Vegetables was opened to page 45 - 'Red and Golden Beets with Blood Orange, Endive and Walnuts' it read. Guess it was our lucky day - the beets were in, the rest - we figured we'd substitute. Getting some flavor of this divine salad was *so* much better than skipping it! We decided to forego the raspberry undertones of the blood orange and replace it with the sweet satsumas instead. And the endive was replaced with red leaf lettuce instead - I know, totally different flavor, but that was the best we had! Trust me, the salad was still divine :) And the vinaigrette was sweet, tart, explosively flavorful - I slurped the leftovers and licked my bowl clean (a la Vodka!)

Red and Golden Beets with Satsumas, Red Leaf Lettuce and Walnuts
An ode to Alice Waters

Servings: 2

Salad

1 red beet
1 golden beet
2 satsuma oranges
1/3 cup of walnuts - lightly toasted
3-4 leaves of red leaf lettuce

Vinaigrette

2 T red wine vinegar
2 T orange juice
2 T olive oil
zest of 1/2 orange
1 t freshly ground black pepper
kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 400F.
Trim and wash the beets and put them in a baking pan with a splash of water.
Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes until the beets can be pierced through with a sharp knife.
Uncover and allow the beets to cool.

Trim off the top and bottom of each orange.
Pare off the rest of the peel and slice the oranges into 1/4" thick rounds.

Make the vinaigrette by mixing the vinegar, orange juice and the orange zest (finely chopped or minced) along with the olive oil.
Season with the salt and pepper.

Once the beets are cool enough to handle, peel them (the skin actually comes off real easily!)
Cut off the tops and bottom tails of the beets and slice them into rounds.
Toss the beets gently with the vinaigrette.

Arrange the beets along with the orange slices and shredded lettuce.
Drizzle the remaining vinaigrette over the salad and garnish with the walnuts.

Good?
Could it get any better?! :)


And the love for everything Alice Waters has created continues. As does the countdown to the next visit to Chez Panisse. *so* excited. We'll be there soon!

Think I'm going to send this to Simona for Weekend Herb Blogging #112 - no herbs here, but the plethora of vegetable and fruit flavours makes it an ideal candidate!