cooking beets: 2010

Hoppin' John Soup ♥

Today's hearty soup recipe: For a double-dose of good luck in the new year, try a soup version of Hoppin' John, the traditional food of 'good fortune' in the American South. It's packed with lucky black-eyed peas and for extra measure, lucky collard greens too. Low carb. A very hearty-tasting Weight Watchers 1 point (Old Points) and 3 points (PointsPlus).

Check your grocery store this week: it'll be selling big bunches of collard greens, it's a promise. That's because greens, especially collard greens, are traditional for New Years' – who wouldn't mind a little more 'green' prosperity? Hoppin' John is a traditional beans 'n' rice dish, so that makes this Hoppin' John in a soup bowl, with collard greens for good measure.

It's a great soup for that long pause between Christmas and New Years, the one where we catch our breath and remember what the heavens must call 'relaxation'. But to be official, serve Hoppin' John on New Years, just to get things off to a good start. It can't hurt and it sure will taste good.

REVIEWS
"I made this on New Years and it was wonderful! It was even better the next day!" ~ Walter
"It was delicious, even forgetting to add the vinegar at the end." ~ Dave

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My Favorite Sweet Potato Recipes Hint: They're Not Just for Fries Anymore!

Finally! It's a veggie evangelist's dream come true, sweet potatoes named a food trend for 2011. In honor, I hereby present my best and favorite sweet potato recipes.

Finally, there's a food trend for vegetable lovers. And it's a vegetable that's found in every grocery store in the world (I'm betting) not an obscure plant grown every third year on a certain hillside in the far reaches of Outer Mongolia reachable only to people who trek in on yaks. And it's affordable not the price of an orthodontist visit. And yahoo, get this -- it's healthy! And maybe famous! Will 2011 be remembered as the Year of the Sweet Potato?

On Monday, Food News Journal (a great source of well-organized and timely food tidbits from both mainstream media and food blogs, best way to follow is via a free e-mail subscription) linked to Food Trend Predictions for 2011 from Tanya Steel at Epicurious. And right there, at #8, were "sweet potatoes". Yes, imagine sweet potatoes going all trendy! The New York Times thinks sweet potatoes are hot too, see Sweet Potatoes Step Out from Under the Marshmallows.

That's the good news. The bad news is that much of the trend is headed toward sweet potato fries -- and you know what I think about sweet potato fries, see Frozen Sweet Potato Fries: Are They Worth the Price, the Calories?.

So I've got a new campaign slogan, whaddaya think? Sweet Potatoes: They're Not Just for Fries Anymore. Here are my favorite sweet potato recipes, hold the fries, please.
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This Year, Let's Give Salads with Abandon: A Simple Dandelion Salad ♥

Today's holiday respite: A simple but elegant dandelion salad. But this is a concept, not a prescription. The gift of a salad, let it soothe the stress of the season.

Shopping before the holidays, it's good to avoid the seasonal one for them, one for me gift-buying trap. But a salad is a gift you can give yourself or gift wrap for those we love -- this year, let's give salads with abandon!

But let's save the staid old every-day salads for another time, those are the socks and the screwdriver sets of gifts, appreciated but fast forgotten. Instead, let's imagine simple but splendid salads, perfectly dressed greens and a sprinkle of festive salad savories, as bright and enticing as the beribboned boxes beneath the tree. No shaking the salads!

It worked for me, a gift not soon forgotten. It was November not December, and we were shopping for a birthday not Christmas. But there we were on a Friday night, hungry for supper but foraging the aisles of the Target store, on the hunt for an Ugly Doll and a Zu Zu Pet to fill a birthday wish list. Don't know what these hot kids' toys are? Don't worry, it doesn't matter, we were shopping for gifts, just like so many of us are now in these weeks before Christmas.

Home finally, and famished, we devoured the stew from the stove. Then I made the salads, slowing down the meal, sipping a glass of wine as I worked, taking the time to gently dress the dandelion greens and to arrange the apple slices, creating plates of beauty. Suddenly the busy-ness business vanished. What a gift.

May I suggest the gift of a salad? You're so welcome. I just knew you'd love it.
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Healthy Red & Green Green-Bean Salad ♥

A heathy 'concept' salad for holiday buffets, potlucks and special meals, a red and green salad that looks as festive as it is healthy. How healthy? Well, Weight Watchers, a full serving is just half a point using the old WW point system, the new Weight Watchers PointsPlus value is 1. (More on PointsPlus, below.) It's low carb, it's high in fiber – and naturally, it tastes great. Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

Around here, cookbooks spill off shelves, stack up on the floor, rest on the coffee table waiting for a look-see. Long-ago favorites take up shelf space in a guest room. The sentimental favorites are the church-style cookbooks of my grandmother's and mother's generation. I shake my head when paging through the so-called "salad" section. You know what's coming, right? All the recipes call for a box of Jello. A third call for cream cheese, a third for mayonnaise and the remaining third get topped with Cool Whip or Dream Whip. (Hey! What happened to Dream Whip? I suppose it was too much work, you had to, you know, actually 'whip' it, just like real cream.) And don't even mention the prevalence of cans of pineapple tidbits and maraschino cherries ...

For Christmas, I wanted to create:

A red and green salad, festive in appearance and able to compete with the prettiest Christmas cookie platter

Made ahead and served cold (though I love this warm, too), perfect for holiday buffets and casual Christmas potlucks

Most of all, a healthy salad, a guilt-free addition to holiday tables.

But my red and green salad is just a start, once you start to consider the possibilities for healthy green bean salads. I haven't made these, but the concept just might spur your own imagination.

Stir in or top with toasted walnuts or pecans.

Skip the tomatoes, stir in chunks of good feta and bacon.

Substitute slivers of roasted or sautéed red pepper for the tomatoes.

Stir in bits of goat cheese, drizzle with a cranberry vinaigrette (a little cranberry sauce, mustard, good vinegar, a little olive oil).

Toss with lime juice, lime zest and dried cranberries or sour cherries.

Toss with lemon juice, lemon zest and Parmesan shavings.

I could go on, but how would you make a healthy green bean salad?
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Vegetarian Entrée Recipes for Thanksgiving

Welcome to A Veggie Venture's collection of vegetarian entrée recipes for Thanksgiving!

When it comes to Thanksgiving vegetarian main dishes, it's a bit of a balancing act, especially when there are both meat eaters and vegetarians at the same table. Over the years, these have become my goals, considering the needs of the hosts and the guests, both:

Thanksgiving is a special meal, a vegetarian entrée should feel special too, not an afterthought.

A vegetarian entrée should appeal to vegetarians and carnivores alike, the main course for the vegetarians, a side dish for the meat eaters. In this way, a quiet word can be said to those who don't eat meat but diet preferences need not become the subject of table conversation.

The vegetarian dish must have a substantial feel, not just be a larger portion of a traditional vegetable side dish.

It must use fresh and seasonal vegetables and be prepped mostly or entirely in advance.

VEGETARIANS, PLEASE NOTE: A Veggie Venture features vegetable recipes but is not vegetarian. The recipes featured on this page are either vegetarian or vegan, as are 80-90% of the recipes on the site. But if you decide to poke around looking for other recipes, either on A Veggie Venture or especially on my food column Kitchen Parade, you might come across a recipe that calls for a meat-based ingredient. For more information, see Note to Vegetarians.
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Savory Sweet Potato Casserole ♥

Today's Thanksgiving Recipe: A savory sweet potato casserole, nary a marshmallow in sight, the natural sweetness puréed into a soft earthiness offset with goat cheese and green chile salsa.

It's November at A Veggie Venture! That means the focus is adding new recipes to Favorite Recipes for Thanksgiving's Favorite Vegetables, a five-year collection of more than three dozen seasonal, delicious vegetable recipes perfect for Thanksgiving.

So we're turning orange around here. Our skin, our eyes, our lips, our teeth ... ... ... ... ... kidding! But if we are what we eat, then we are turning into sweet potatoes because I've made one savory sweet potato casserole recipe after another for the last couple of weeks. Because this is a classic concept recipe, mostly the casseroles have been variations on a theme:

Sweet potatoes cooked and then mashed with a fork, mixing in something creamy like goat cheese, ricotta cheese, even sour cream.

Then thinned with a little milk to create the light and fluffy texture that befits the richest and fluffiest mashed potatoes.

Then the flavors deepened or brightened or turned dark and savory with pantry ingredients.

Then turned into an oven-safe dish for heating through either right away or the next day.

Then sighing with satisfaction, the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes plenty sweet enough without the addition of butter or cream or maple syrup or marshmallows or all the stuff we use to cover up the goodness, themselves, that are sweet potatoes.

The recipe that follows is one of two that I kept returning to. It shouts 'fall' to me and would be a wonderful contribution to a Thanksgiving table. That said, paired with a salad and an icy glass of Viognier one night, it was a most tasty vegetarian supper, too.

REVIEWS
"I made this for Thanksgiving dinner with sour cream ... and it was a huge hit!" ~ Lisa

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For Green Bean Casserole, Just Say NO! to Canned Green Beans & Mushroom Soup

How to make a green bean casserole from scratch with fresh green beans and fresh mushrooms. Below are step-by-step photos showing how to make the fresh green bean casserole recipe so many cooks have made (and loved!) since 2006. It's an adaptation of a Cooks' Illustrated recipe so good I dubbed it the World's Best Green Bean Casserole.

SAY YES! The green bean casserole is America's favorite casserole for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter (and even Father's Day, Labor Day and other special family occasions). It's worth saying 'yes' to!

SAY NO! to CANNED GREEN BEANS & CANS OF MUSHROOM SOUP But it's the 21st century and cans of more-gray-than green beans and cans of goopy gloppy mushroom soup just don't cut it any more. Making a green bean casserole with fresh green beans and fresh mushroom takes a little more time but it's not hard, not in the least. But the taste difference is so worth the extra effort. If you want to be a star at Thanksgiving, offer to make this green bean casserole with fresh ingredients. I've made one casserole after another for several years and am happy to share all the tips and tricks and techniques that make this a sure-fire success.
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For Green Bean Casserole, Just Say NO! to Canned Green Beans & Mushroom Soup (Part 2 - The Fresh Mushrooms)

To make the pages load faster, especially for those using their phones and other mobile devices from the kitchen, the recipe tips are in three sections:

HOW-TO PHOTOS & COOKING TIPS for the
WORLD'S BEST GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE
~ Part 1: How to Cook the Green Beans ~
~ Part 2: How to Cook the Mushroom Sauce (you are here) ~
~ Part 3: How to Mix the Topping & Bake the Casserole ~

~ return to recipe for World's Best Green Bean Casserole ~
~ Printer Friendly Recipe ~

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For Green Bean Casserole, Just Say NO! to Canned Green Beans & Mushroom Soup (Part 3 - The Onion Topping & Baking)

To make the pages load faster, especially for those using their phones and other mobile devices from the kitchen, the recipe tips are in three sections:

HOW-TO PHOTOS & COOKING TIPS for the
WORLD'S BEST GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE
~ Part 1: How to Cook the Green Beans ~
~ Part 2: How to Cook the Mushroom Sauce ~
~ Part 3: How to Mix the Topping & Bake the Casserole (you are here) ~

~ return to recipe for World's Best Green Bean Casserole ~
~ Printer Friendly Recipe ~

TIP #12 - CANNED ONION RINGS So this is slightly controversial, not everyone agrees. But what "keeps" the World's Best Green Bean Casserole firmly entrenched in its "familiar comfort food" position is canned onion rings. I know, I know, read the ingredient label and you wonder if we can't do better. They are mixed with good bread, so we use fewer of them than the traditional version with canned beans and canned mushroom soup. But still.

Since 2006, I've used the canned onion rings. This year, just to see, I'm going to try a homemade topping. The recipe for the World's Best Green Bean Casserole includes several techniques used by other cooks.

So with that, is it okay to carry on? Let's.

TIP #13 - WHIZ THE BREAD CRUMBS ETC BUT NOT THE CANNED ONION RINGS Break the bread into pieces, add the soft butter. Don't forget the salt and pepper, they're critical. Whiz the bread a few times, you want relatively large pieces, pieces that are obviously made from real bread, not a fine grain.

OH. The bread. I've used homemade bread, Whole Grain Bread and Light 'n' Fluffy Homemade Whole-Grain Bread & Buns but any good-tasting, whole-grain bread will do. In the photo, I've used an artisan olive and rosemary roll from the bakery, it was excellent. No white bread!

Stir together the bread crumbs and the onions

TIP #14 - MIX THE TOPPING BUT DON'T PUT IT ONTO THE BEANS UNTIL YOU'RE READY TO BAKE THE CASSEROLE Now stir together the bread crumbs and the onion rings. What you do now depends on whether you're going to bake the casserole right away or whether you're going to bake it later.

TO BAKE THE GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE RIGHT AWAY Sprinkle the topping, well, you know, on top of the beans. Use your fingers to do this, it's easier to spread the topping evenly.

Bake uncovered at 425F for about 15 minutes. It doesn't take long, everything's cooked and is either warm or slightly warm, definitely not cold so you're just heating it through and crisping up and browning the topping.

TO MAKE AHEAD AND BAKE LATER Cover the beans with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Keep the crumb topping separate from the casserole. If you put the topping on now, it would get all soggy. We don't want soggy! Refrigerate the topping mixture too.

Let the casserole warm to room temperature

TIP #15 - BEFORE BAKING, ALLOW TIME TO RETURN THE CASSEROLE TO ROOM TEMPERATURE It just makes sense that it takes longer to heat a dish that starts off cold than to heat a dish that starts off slightly warmer. This is especially important at Thanksgiving, when oven space is so coveted. That's why I always recommend bringing side dishes to room temperature well before they need to go in the oven.

A single or double batch in a shallow dish will take less time to warm to room temperature than a triple or quadruple batch in a deep casserole dish.

Once the casserole has warmed up, then take off the plastic wrap but do NOT put the topping on yet.

For the moment, leave off the topping and bake just the beans, baking them until they're all hot and bubbly. Depending on the temperature of the bean mixture and the depth of the dish, this can take from 10 to 40 minutes.

Doesn't this look just delicious?!

Sprinkle the topping over the partially baked beans

Now sprinkle the topping over the hot and bubbly beans and put back into the oven, still uncovered, for another 15 minutes.

Finally, it's time to dig in! Give yourself a big pat on the back for investing extra time and effort into making something that's really fresh and delicious. Look around you -- doesn't everyone agree? This is truly the World's Best Green Bean Casserole!

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Frozen Sweet Potato Fries: Are They Worth the Price? the Calories?

Frozen Sweet Potato Fries (Crinkle Cut Fries from McCain)

Today's product review: A look at what I thought was a promising development in the frozen food aisle at the grocery store, sweet potato fries. How do they taste? Are they worth the money? I suppose I shouldn't be shocked -- shocked! -- but I am.

It turns out that frozen sweet potatoes:
- do taste okay, not great, but okay.
- are three to four times more expensive than fresh sweet potatoes!
- have 50% to 68% more calories than fresh sweet potatoes roasted at home!
- are made with a whole long list of "other" ingredients.

THE BACKGROUND Last summer, my favorite busy mom brought sweet potato fries to a pool party. I was a late arrival so only a few scraps were left but even cold, the sticks of baked sweet potato were pretty tasty!

Fast Forward Three Months, as I set out to try frozen sweet potato fries for myself. I gotta tell you, I was fully prepared to "love" these products. I expected to extol the virtues of "convenient whole food" from the freezer, like peas or corn or broccoli or cauliflower or spinach. I imagined doing a post with three or four different spice mixes for sweet potato fries. I was going to love these, readers were going to love them too! I cooked and ate them before looking any deeper.

THE TASTE TESTS I baked up two different packages of frozen sweet potato fries, unknowingly setting up a David and Goliath smackdown. This was entirely unintentional: I'd never heard of either company until I started writing this post, their products were the only two in my local supermarket, Schnucks.

Sweet Potato Julienne Fries from the privately held New York company Alexia which claims to be 'reinventing the frozen food category'

Sweet Potato Crinkle Cut Fries (pictured) from McCain, the $6 billion Canadian company known for frozen food products

HANDS-ON TIME A+
Alexia: 1 minute
McCain: 1 minute

TIME to TABLE B-
Alexia: 35 - 40 minutes (including 15 minutes to preheat the oven)
McCain: 35 minutes (including 15 minutes to preheat)

TASTE B-
Alexia: Good enough, especially hot-hot from the oven, after that, soggy and unappealing. They were pretty crisp, though not like fast-food fries, say.
McCain: The same pros and cons applied here. I liked these slightly better, but it might have been the eye appeal of the crinkly fries.

INGREDIENT LABELS D+
Whew, I'd imagined a one-item ingredient list, you know, sweet potatoes but these long lists of ingredients sent on the hunt for definitions. I really should have checked the labels beforehand, to know what I was getting into. I'm not a chemist or a food scientist, just a home cook so my interpretations of the ingredients are [shown in brackets].

Alexia: Sweet potatoes, Canola oil and/or sunflower oil and/or safflower oil, rice flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch, dextrin [another starch used to promote crispness in industrial foods, also, get this, used as fuel in sparklers and fireworks], salt, dextrose [a form of glucose used in the food industry], xanthum gum [a food additive used to maintain the viscosity of liquid products such as commercial salad dressing], leavening (disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate) [a salt used to prevent caking], colored with turmeric and oleoresin paprika [an oil soluble extract from the fruits of Capsicum Annum Linn or Capsicum Frutescens (Indian red chillies)]

McCain: Sweet Potatoes, Canola Oil, Sugar, Potato Starch - Modified Contains Less Than 2% or Less of Anatto (color), Corn Starch - Modified, Dehydrated Sweet Potatoes, Dextrin [see above], Extractives of Paprika (color), Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate [see above], Sodium Bicarbonate), Malt Powder (Malted Barley, Wheat Flour, Dextrose [see above], Maltodextrin [a form of dextrose used as a food additive], Medium Chain Triglycerides [], Molasses, Natural Flavor [what?], Rice Flour, Salt, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate [see above] Added to Maintain Natural Color, Xanthum Gum [see above].

EXPIRATION DATES C- & A+
Alexia: The package reads, "6180 0076 10 Sell By 6180 03 17 12". I suppose this means that the product should be sold by March 17, 2012 (about 18 months from purchase) but if so, maybe they could just say so?
McCain: The package reads, "Best Before Jun 2011" (about 9 months from purchase). Okay, that's clear, thanks.

CALORIES per SERVING Note: Both companies use a three-ounce serving. For apples-to-apples comparison with other recipes from A Veggie Venture, I'm using four-ounce servings.

Alexia NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Serving: 188 Calories; 7g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 188mg Sodium; 32g Carb; 4g Fiber; 8g Sugar; 1g Protein; Weight Watchers 3.5 points

McCain NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Serving: 213 Calories; 9g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 226mg Sodium; 31g Carb; 5g Fiber; 9g Sugar; 0g Protein; Weight Watchers 4.25 points

For comparison, Fresh Sweet Potatoes (16 ounces raw sweet potato roasted with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon table salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and divided into four servings) NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Serving: 127 Calories; 3g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 352mg Sodium; 23g Carb; 3g Fiber; 5g Sugar; 2g Protein; Weight Watchers 2 points

THE CALORIE IMPACT
Alexia: There are 48% more calories in the Alexia frozen sweet potato fries than fresh sweet potatoes roasted at home.
McCain: There are 68% more calories in the McCain frozen sweet potato fries than fresh sweet potatoes roasted at home.

PRICE D-
Alexia (regular sweet potato fries): $3.19 - $3.68 per pound (15-ounce package on sale for $2.99, regular price $3.45)
Alexia (spicy sweet potato fries): $4.26 - $4.90 $ (15-ounce package on sale for $3.99, regular price $4.59)
McCain: $2.69 per pound ($2.69 for 16-ounce package)
For comparison, Fresh Sweet Potatoes: $1.19 ($1.00 per pound store price, adjusted to $1.14 per pound for 2 ounces inedible skins plus $.05 estimate for olive oil and salt and pepper for roasting)

THE COST IMPACT
Alexia (regular sweet potato fries): 2.7 - 3.1 times more expensive than roasting at home
Alexia (spicy sweet potato fries): 3.6 - 4.1 times more expensive
McCain: 2.3 times more expensive

PRICE PREMIUM for TIME SPENT
To compare, I washed, peeled, sliced, oiled and seasoned two sweet potatoes weighing a little more than a pound. It took 10 minutes, including measuring, weighing, dropping the dishes into the dishwasher. At the costs shown above, that 10 minutes is the equivalent of:

Alexia (regular sweet potato fries): $12 - $15 per hour ($25,000 to $31,000 per year)
Alexia (spicy sweet potato fries): $18.50 - $22.25 per hour ($38,300 to $46,300 per year)
McCain: $9 per hour ($18,700 per year)

NOW WHAT?
The common wisdom is, "Consumers are willing to pay for convenience." Apparently we are, in both dollars and calories, all to save 10 minutes. Time is precious but my goodness, are these the consequences of saving time so that we can, what, watch more TV? take a run? "talk" to our friends on Facebook? toss a football with the kids in the backyard? check e-mail? sleep? (Yes, GOOD things can happen with an extra ten minutes.)

But I'm so conflicted. I WANT frozen sweet potato fries to be better. I WANT our best food companies to deliver convenience and good nutrition and a good value. I WANT to say, "Yes, frozen sweet potato fries are good for us!" Surely, surely, human ingenuity can do better.

MORE FAVORITE RECIPES
~ Delicious Microwave Sweet Potato ~
~ Sweet Potato & Butternut Squash Tagine ~
~ Sweet Potato Casserole ~
~ more sweet potato recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Rustic Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Carrots ~
~ Turkey Sweet Potato Soup ~
~ Chicken Cider Stew ~
~ more sweet potato recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

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Stuffed Pumpkin with Apple & Cranberry ♥

Today's fun fall recipe: Stuff a pumpkin with apples and cranberries and nuts and spices and what do you get? Great flavor, whether for a side dish or a dessert. Gorgeous presentation, even though easy-easy to make. Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

Two years ago, four of us celebrated one of those 'significant' birthdays ending in zero within a couple of months. One of the husbands cooked dinner for us, a present in itself. Last year, we decided to make a joint birthday celebration an annual event and all of a sudden, we were assigning courses for a potluck supper. Georg? Appetizer. Kathy? Dessert. (I'm still drooling over that dessert, homemade vanilla ice cream with homemade dulce le leche and hot fudge and three, count 'em, three beautiful little butter cookies.) Ann was less settled but soon knew she wanted to do something, not sure what exactly, with a pumpkin from her CSA. And this is what she brought -- a pumpkin stuffed with apples and cranberries and nuts. It was gorgeous! It made for a perfect side dish with roast chicken and wild rice pilaf I added to the table.

Within a few days, I made another and served it as dessert. Both? Wonderful. The dramatic presentation makes it looks as if you've maybe slaved.

MORE STUFFED PUMPKIN RECIPES Stuffed pumpkins are showing up everywhere! There's the savory side, Fall Stew Baked in a Whole Pumpkin and then another dessert, this time with custard, it's Whole Pumpkin Baked with Custard.

REVIEWS
"It was perfect! I made whipped cream laced with cinnamon and everyone raved - even my "foodie" guest!" ~ Lisa
"Wow, that was delicious!" ~ Hobbea

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Roasted Garlic Soup ♥

Today's soup recipe: A garlic soup, deepened with roasted garlic and made creamy with potato plus a splash of cream. Low carb and for Weight Watchers, 2 or 3 points. Plus, my annual reminder that we plant garlic in the fall some time in the middle of October.

Did my home-ec teacher mother even know about garlic? Surely, she must have. But if she did, garlic awareness didn't translate into garlic cooking, perhaps, I suspect in her defense, because fresh garlic wasn't available in our small-town grocery?

So I was 13 or 14 when garlic entered my life, not with a bang but a full-nasal blast. My Auntie Karen's house reeked of garlic when she made Chicken Cacciatore for my annual birthday supper. What WAS that smell? She laughed and held out a head of garlic for inspection. How could something so small pack such a punch?

How far our food world has come! Few kitchens are now without garlic, it's a staple. And for awhile now, in my kitchen, not only is garlic a staple, so is roasted garlic. It's the basis for this creamy soup, which also packs a punch and to my taste, anyway, is best enjoyed in a small serving.

REMINDER: If you live in the northern hemisphere, it's time to plant garlic! Find out all the details in a 2007 post, How (and Why) to Grow Garlic at Home.
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My Favorite Way to Roast Beets: An Illustrated Cooking Lesson from the Beet Queen

How to roast fresh beets with minimum fuss and an abundance of earthy, sensual beet flavor. After many years of cooking beets one way or another, in my experience, this is the best way to cook fresh beets.

If you ask the Beet Queen (aka me, Alanna) how to roast beets, what oven temperature to use for roasting beets, even how long to roast beets, I'll tell you, "It depends." You see, I've tried so many ways of roasting beets, some simple, some a little complicated, some worth remembering, others not. It's taken five years of cooking beets to settle onto my favorite way to roast beets. This method takes the least fuss and every time, yields moist and earthy cooked beets.

Roasting beets is easy but it helps to arm yourself with a few shortcuts, tips and techniques I've collected over the years. And once you've roasted beets, there are soooo many quick salads and sides to choose from. Check out all the beet recipes, the ones that call for pre-cooked beets are marked like this

. They don't call me the Beet Queen for nuthin'.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED to ROAST BEETS
A cutting board
A large oven-safe pot with a cover
A sharp knife
A little oil
That's all!

STUMBLEUPON: For all who use the great discovery tool StumbleUpon, I'd love for this post to be 'stumbled'!

Behold the beautiful beet! Such knobs of dark and mysterious beauty, we shall capture their hearts, just as they romance the tastebuds of all beet lovers.

Before getting started, turn the oven to 375F.

Clean the beets, especially the rough areas. But be gentle!

We're doing to deal with the beet bulbs and the beet greens separately.

First, scrub-scrub-scrub the beet bulbs themselves. Clean them under running water, rubbing the skins with your fingers to brush off any stubborn grit, paying special attention to all the rough parts where the stems sprout out and to the "tail".

But be gentle! Don't scrub the beets too hard, otherwise the barrier of the skin will weaken and if it does, liquid and flavor will leak out during roasting.

While you're washing the bulbs. give the greens a quick rinse too.

Cut off the greens, leaving some stem. Leave the 'tail' intact too.

Cut the greens off the bulbs, leaving about a half inch to an inch of stubby stems. Don't touch that tail either!

Actually, it's not a 'tail' even if it does look like a mouse's tail. It's the "tap root" of the beet, the bit that reaches deep into the soil to gather up minerals and all the wonderful earthy flavor that we love about beets.

Why leave a bit of stem on, why leave the tail / tap root alone? We don't want to risk cutting the beet's flesh, effectively 'wounding' the beet, letting liquid and flavor leak out during roasting. That's bad for the pan (one big sugary mess) and bad for the beet lover (dry and shriveled beets). NOT good.

Drop the beets into a large deep pot such as a Dutch oven, something with a lid, something that can go in the oven.

I suppose if your pot is deep enough, you could do more than one layer. But one layer is all that will fit in my Dutch oven so that's all I've ever roasted.

If you have an extra beet that won't fit, make yourself a Raw Beet Sandwich. Yum. Plus it's going to be awhile before the beet babies are roasted.

Or maybe you've got way more beets than will fit? You are going to love-love-love the oh-so-gorgeous Greens 'n' All Beet Soup.

Ooops, sorry for the distractions. This is the Beet Queen talking, after all.

Pour a tiny bit of oil on each beet, about a teaspoon apiece.

Now get in there with your hands and rub that oil all over the skins.

Cover and put into the oven for an hour.

Cover! I mean it, cover the pot! Once I forgot the lid and these lovely little beets from the farmers market didn't cook during the first hour and had a really off taste when I covered them and roasted a second hour. It was a "save" that didn't work.

Put the beets into the oven for about an hour. (If the oven hasn't fully preheated, don't worry, just put the pot in the oven and set the timer for 60 minutes plus whatever number of minutes remain for the oven to come to the roasting temperature.)

Timing is always iffy with beets, however, so please don't "count" on them for supper in exactly an hour because some times roasting beets takes longer than an hour. I haven't been able to figure out the difference, maybe it's the size of the beets, how fresh they are, how they've been stored, how dense the beets are, etc. But when someone asks me how long to roast beets, I will always say, "Roast beets for an hour, then check every 15 minutes or so until they're done."

To promote even cooking, especially with large beets, some times I turn the beets after 20 and 40 minutes.

Line up the greens, then chop off the stems.

Now the greens -- if you've got any even tiny thought of throwing them away, banish the thought! This is going to be so easy!

Ooops, no photo, but check the greens again by rubbing the a leaf or two with your fingers. If there's any feel of grit, head back to the sink and rinse the leaves again under running water, gently rubbing the leaves with your fingers to loosen the dirt. If the greens are really gritty, soak them in cool water for a few minutes, sloshing them around every so often. Rinse them under running water again, making sure to get right into all the crevices.

Once the greens are grit-free, line them up at the junction of the stem and the leaf, then slice off the stems.

If the stems are thick and crotchety looking, well, unless you're really frugal, toss 'em, they're just not worth it. But if they are thin and perfect like these, they cook quickly and add lots of fiber. They're good!

Check the leaves themselves. If any are bruised, as shown here, give them a toss. If any are tough or cracked, throw them away too.

Keep the stems and the greens separate because they have different cooking times.

Now I'm going to introduce you to one of my best cooking secrets. Okay, I share all my best recipes, no secrets there, so let's call this my favorite technique for cooking greens, beet greens and other greens too. This is how to cook greens, quickly and easily, but hold them for a day to two to eat later! Greens are so tender and perishable, this lets you do a little "cooking" now but postpone the "eating" until later.

Say hello to Greek Greens. Fresh greens need never go to waste again.

Test for doneness by inserting a knife deep into the center

Back to those roasted beets! It's time to check to see if they're done or not.

Insert a thin knife right into the center of the beet. If it goes in easily, the beets are done. If there's resistance, put the beets back into the oven for 15 minutes, then check again.

I've had beets take as long as 2 hours to roast. Remember what I said about not counting on beets for supper at a specific time? This is why.

Patience, let the beets cook until they are soft and fully roasted, all the way through.

The best way to enjoy that first hot beet!

ASIDE: And once the beets are cooked, oh my, here's a treat for hungry beet lovers, one I look forward to every time I roast beets.

Just skin and slice a hot-hot beet and dab with butter and if you like, a little good salt or a sprinkle of Spanish paprika. Ohhhhhhhh so good!

Go ahead and eat one, I'll wait. Isn't that first beet just delicious?

This "recipe" was given to me by a reader from Brunswick, Missouri. I'm so forever grateful, I call the recipe King Hill Farms Simple & Sublime Beets.

Once the beets are fully cooked, let them cool down until they're cool enough to handle.

Word to the wise: It would be just fine to refrigerate the beets right now for eating later but the skins are slightly easier to remove when the beets are still warm.

Let's peel these beets! It's a little messy and your hands, yes, will stain. Call it a Beet Queen badge of honor.

First, slice off the stem end.

Rub the beet skins with your fingertips, they will slip right off! A knife can help with any resistant bits.

So that's all there is to it! You've roasted a big panful of beets and from now on, quick beet dishes are just a few minutes away because the cooking is already done.

FAVORITE WAYS to ENJOY ROASTED BEETS
~ How to Make a Roasted Beet Salad ~
~ Beet Carpaccio ~
~ Harvard Beets ~
~ Red Onion Beets ~
~ Borscht Beets ~
~ Beets with Feta ~
~ Beet Pesto ~

~ more beet recipes ~

MORE WAYS to COOK BEETS
~ Microwave Beets ~
~ Summer Borscht ~
(Beets Cooked in Water on Stovetop)
~ Roasted Beet Supper Salad ~
(Beets Peeled Then Roasted)
~ Pan-Pickled Beets ~
("Pickled" in a Skillet)

reade more...

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