Beet, carrot, mustard greens and celery juice

The hot spiciness of the mustard greens removes the necessity for adding salt or spices to this juice. The mustard heat sensation is first felt on the tip of the tongue, spreading throughout the mouth. This quickly mellows to an aftertaste of carrot and beet.

Beet, carrot, mustard greens and celery juice

Ingredients:

1 small beet, approximately 4 cm. (1.5 in.) in diameter

2 celery sticks

2 carrots

2 - 3 mustard green leaves, stalks removed

Beet, carrot, celery stalks and mustard greens

Preparation:

1. Wash all the vegetables. 

2. Slice the mustard greens into strips. Cut the celery stalks into small chunks. Pulp all in a juicer. 

Mustard greens and celery juice

3. Slice carrots into chunks. Pulp in the juicer.

Mustard greens, celery and carrot juice

4. Cut beet into chunks. Pulp in the juicer. Decant the juice into a glass. 

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Beet veggie smoothie

This beet smoothie is a  delicious way to get your daily portion of vegetables. It is like a savoury vegetable salad with just a little punch from the fresh ginger. In addition, the olive oil is great for the health of your nervous system.

Beet veggie smoothie

                                                    Yield: 2 smoothies

Ingredients:

1 beet, approximately 5 c. (2 in.) in diameter

6 beet leaves, including stalks

1 sweet red bell papper

1 tomato

1 carrot

½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 - 2 celery stalks 

6 - 8 stems of cilantro

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup cold water

salt and pepper to taste

Beet, beet leaves, sweet red bell pepper, tomato, ginger
celery, cilantro and carrot

Preparation:

1. Wash the vegetables. Peel the beet. Chop it into chunks. Place into a blender together with ¼ cup water. Pulse on 'High'.

2. Add chopped tomato, bell pepper and carrot to blender. Blend until pureed.

3. Add the remaining ingredients. Blend to a fine pureed. Adjust seasonings.

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Beet, mango, carrot and strawberry smoothie

Mango and strawberry flavours predominate in this beautiful and delicious beet smoothie. It contains four of your day's portions of fresh fruits and vegetables and all the wholesome goodness of raw beets.

Beet, mango, carrot and strawberry smoothie

                                                    Yield: 1 smoothie

Ingredients:

1 beet, approximately 5 c. (2 in.) in diameter, washed, peeled, chopped

4 large fresh strawberries, washed, halved, greens removed

1 carrot, washed, chopped

1 ripe mango, peeled, sliced

¼ cup carrot juice

Chopped beet, mango, strawberries and carrot

Preparation:

1. Wash the fruit and vegetables. 

2. Peel the beet. Chop it into chunks. Place into a blender with carrot juice. Pulse on 'High'.

2. Add chopped carrot to blender and pulse until pureed.

3. Add strawberries and mango. Blend to a fine pureed. 

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Pressure-cooker borscht

The borscht produced by this recipe is actually quite different from Borsht No.1. The beet is cooked first, then the remaining root vegetables and cabbage. All the ingredients are brought together just before the borscht is eaten. Aficionados of borscht will certainly notice the difference. They'll love it anyway.

Pressure-cooker borscht

                                                                              Yield: 4 - 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized beet, about 7.5 cm. (3 in) in diameter

3 cups water

1 cup purple cabbage, grated

½ cup red onion, diced

1 carrot, grated

½ cup rutabaga, diced

1 clove fresh garlic, minced

3 sprigs fresh dill (whole)

2 - 3 cups pot liquor from steaming the beet

1 tablespoon lemon juice

sea salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons commercial soured cream for each bowl of borscht

Chopped beet (center), chopped rutabaga (top right),
grated carrot (bottom right), and grated purple cabbage

Preparation:

1. Thoroughly wash the vegetables.

2. Place beet in pressure cooker with 3 cups of water. Raise temperature to boiling on 'High' heat, then reduce heat to 'Medium' and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off heat, leaving the pressure cooker as it is to steam until the safety lock releases. 

3. Meanwhile, prepare the remaining vegetables as indicated above, i.e., grate the cabbage and carrot, peel and dice the rutabaga and red onion, and mince the garlic. 

4. When the pressure cooker's safety lock releases, remove beet to an air-tight container and leave to cool. Pour the liquid from the pressure cooker into a heat-proof container and reserve.

5. Place a steamer basket inside the pressure cooker. (See Pressure cooker - Part 2 to see what a steamer basket looks like if you don't know). Add three cups of water to the pressure cooker, just enough to touch the bottom of the a heat-proof, non-reactive dish, such as Pyrex™ or Corning Ware™, which you will place inside the steamer basket. 

Chopped and grated vegetables, except beets,
ready for cooking in the pressure cooker

5. Add the fresh dill and prepared vegetables, except the beet, to the dish inside the pressure cooker. Place the lid on the pressure cooker and cook these vegetables as you did the beet.

6. Meanwhile, peel and dice the beet, making a small dice. 

7. When the pressure cooker's safety lock releases, the prepared vegetables are finished cooking. Remove them to a non-reactive* soup pot, such as the glass pot shown in the image below. 

8.  Add diced beet, and the pot liquor reserved from cooking the beet. Bring to boil, then remove from the heat.

9. Add lemon juice and stir.

Beets and all borscht ingredients melding flavours prior to serving

10. Ladle into soup bowls and top each with commercial soured cream.

* The purpose of using a non-reactive cooking pot is to retain as much colour -- and therefore, phyto-nutrients -- as possible in borscht.

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Oven-roasted beet wedges with rutabaga

Beets roasted in the oven together with other root vegetables provide comfort food that is full of the goodness of betaines and other phytonutrients. You might like to eat these vegetables with commercial soured cream, kefir or yoghurt to provide the calcium needed by the magnesium in the beet roots to support healthy muscles.

The creamy, smooth texture of the Hawaiian purple yam contrasts beautifully with the firm texture of the beet wedges and the caramelized rutabaga and carrot.

Oven-roasted beet root wedges, rutabaga,
carrot, purple yam and potatoes

                                                                                 Yield: 4 - 6 servings

Set oven to 425℉  (220℃)

Ingredients:

1 beet root, 7.5 cm. (3 in.) in diameter, cut into wedges

¼ rutabaga, peeled, chopped

3 small white potatoes

3 small red potatoes

3 small purple potatoes

1 carrot, chopped

1 small Hawaiian purple yam

4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved

¼ red onion, peeled, chopped

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Beets, rutabaga and other root vegetables

Preparation:

1. Thoroughly wash all root vegetables under running water to remove sand and soil. Peel the beet, rutabaga and Hawaiian purple yam. 

2. Slice beet into 12 wedges. Place a 2-quart Dutch oven or similar lidded, oven-proof dish.

3. Cut rutabaga, purple yam and carrot into chunks, approximately 1.5 cm. (1/2 in.) thick. Add to the beet wedges.

4. Add small potatoes whole. 

5. Peel garlic cloves, slice each in half, and add to vegetables. Peel ¼ red onion, slice into chunks and add to root vegetables.

6. Dribble olive oil over vegetables. Stir to coat them. Grind sea salt and pepper over the mixture. Cover. 

Beet wedges and other root vegetables plus red onion and garlic

7. Place in oven at 425℉ ( 220℃) for 45 minutes. 

After 30 minutes, test the beets for done-ness by penetrating with an ordinary table fork. Roast uncovered until finish roasting to increase caramelize. When a fork will easily penetrate to the centre of a beet wedge, turn off the heat and remove the vegetables from oven.

8. These roasted root vegetables are delicious with any type of meat or poultry.

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Beet, strawberry and purple yam smoothie

Beet, strawberry and purple yam smoothie

Get the health benefits of a whole raw beet and other complimentary fruits and vegetables in this highly coloured smoothie.

                                                                                   Yield: 1 large smoothie

Ingredients:

Clockwise: Beet, strawberries, purple yam,
carrot, tomato, and lime

1 beet, approximately 5 c. (2 in.) in diameter, peeled, chunked

3 - 4 fresh strawberries, topped, halved
½ cup purple yam, peeled, chunked

1 carrot, washed, chunked

1 Roma tomato, quartered

¼ fresh lime, peel removed

¼ cup water

Preparation:

1. Wash the vegetables. Peel the beet and the yam. Roughly chop into chunks. Place into a blender.

2. Add remaining ingredients when peeled or otherwise treated as indicated in the ingredients list.

Beet smoothie ingredients ready to be pureed.

3. Pulse on 'High' until pureed. Decant. Cut a thin slice of lime for garnish.

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Beet, parsnip and sweet pepper soup

Perk up a cold mid-winter evening with the enervating colours and comforting aromas of this pureed soup.

Beet, parsnip and sweet pepper soup

Cooked beet, purple potato and
carrot

Ingredients (red soup):

½ teaspoon coconut oil

½ cup chopped red onion

½ clove garlic, crushed

1 small beet, steamed, peeled, chopped

½  carrot, steamed, peeled, chopped

2 purple potatoes, steamed, peeled, chopped

1 cup beet stock or chicken stock

                                      

Cooked and diced ingredients
for the yellow soup

Ingredients (yellow soup):            

½ teaspoon coconut oil

½ cup chopped white onion

½ clove garlic, crushed

1 parsnip, steamed, peeled, chopped

1 white potato, steamed, peeled, chopped

½ yellow sweet bell pepper, diced

¼ orange sweet bell pepper, diced

1 cup chicken stock

Garnish: 

1 sprig cilantro

Preparation :

1. Use two saucepans. You will cook in both pots at once, treating each mixture separately. Melt ½ teaspoon coconut oil in each pot. Place red onion and garlic in one (the red pot), and white onion and garlic in the second (the yellow pot).

2. To the red pot, add all items listed under Ingredients (red soup).   

Beet soup (red pot)

3. To the yellow pot, add all items listed under Ingredients (yellow soup).

Parsnip and sweet pepper soup (yellow pot)

4.  Simmer both mixtures for 10 minutes.

5. Decant the contents of the red pot into a blender. Pulse at high speed until the mixture is thoroughly pureed. Pour the red puree back into the red pot and reheat over low heat.

Beet puree

6. Thoroughly wash the blender, then decant the contents of the yellow pot into it. Pulse at high speed, as you did with the red mixture. Pour the yellow puree into the yellow pot and reheat. At this point, you may wish to add salt, pepper or other preferred seasonings to each puree.

Parsnip and sweet pepper puree

8. Ladle ¾ cup red puree into one measuring cup and ¾ cup yellow puree into another measuring cup.

9. Simultaneously, pour into a soup bowl from both measuring cups to create the effect shown in the illustration above. Garnish with a sprig of cilantro.

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Borscht No. 1

Admit it. This is what you've been waiting for. Borscht! Beautiful, filling, delightful borscht: the Monarch of Soups.

Er, okay...maybe not. But it is delicious.

Borscht No. 1

                                                        Yield: 6 - 8 servings

This borscht requires the use of black garlic which lends a somewhat beefy flavour to the broth.

Borscht with soured cream

Ingredients:

4 small beets, about 3 - 5 cm. (1.5 - 2") in diameter

1 carrot

1 medium-sized red potato

1/2 cup red onion, diced

1 cup grated purple cabbage

2 cloves black garlic, finely chopped

4 sprigs fresh dill

3 - 5 cups chicken stock or water from steaming vegatables

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or lemon juice

freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup commercial soured cream

Beets, carrot, potato, black garlic and purple cabbage

Preparation:

1. Thoroughly scrub beets, potato and carrot under running water to remove sand and debris. Remove any wilted or discoloured tops and roots. Place whole beets in the basket of a food steamer or pressure cooker. Steam vegetables. If using a pressure cooker, follow the user manual. Otherwise, when a fork can easily pierce a beet to the centre, turn heat off. Remove vegetables to a heat-proof container and set aside to cool. Reserve fluid from steamer to use in this borscht preparation, or else store for later use.

Steam rises off the beets, carrot
 and potato cooked in a pressure cooker

2. When beets, potato and carrot are cool enough to handle, slip the peels away. Dice. Reserve. 

Diced beets, carrot and potato

3. Place peeled and diced red onion in the soup pot together with diced black garlic, whole sprigs of dill and 3 cups of chicken stock (or the liquid of your choice). cover. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes.

Black garlic and fresh dill

4.  Add diced beets, potato and carrot. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes to enable flavours to mingle.

5. Add grated purple cabbage. Raise to boiling point, then reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes.

Purple cabbage cooking in the beet mixture

6. Remove from heat. Add freshly ground black pepper to your taste. Add red wine vinegar or lemon juice. Stir.

7. Ladle into bowls. Top each bowl of borscht with a tablespoon of soured cream.

You will want second servings. 

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Cooking beets in a pressure cooker - Part 2

What have I learned about cooking beets and other root vegetables in a pressure cooker?

Steam rises from beets, a carrot and a potato cooked in a pressure cooker

For the beginning of this post, see Cooking beets in a pressure cooker - Part 1

First: The lid cannot blow off. 

Second: The way the steam emerges, it bursts out in four directions rather than in one, so the steam is dissipated in a less dangerous and more effective manner that it was in the monster from the deep. 

Third: There is a steam-controlled metal stop that prevents the lid being opened before the pressure inside has reduced to a predetermined safe level.

Fourth: One is advised against cooking chick peas and such legumes in a pressure cooker. However, it can be done safely if certain precautions are taken. There is no danger of blowing up the kitchen.

Fifth: The modern pressure cooker is not the dangerous contraption that the old ones were and (yahoo!) there is no longer a pressure gauge.

This latest addition to my kitchen arsenal is rather larger than it ought to be for the cooking I undertake. It should really be only 3 - 5 quarts in size for my needs. This one holds more like 8 - 10 quarts. In the shop, it didn't look so large but, now that it is home in my postage-stamp-sized kitchen, it looks huge.

Cooking beets and root vegetables in the pressure cooker is safe and easy if the instructions for safe handling are followed.

Following is the process I used to cook beets, a potato and a carrot for later use in making borscht.

1. Wash the vegetables. Place them in the pressure cooker. Add water just sufficient to cover the vegetables. In this case, that was 6 cups of water.

2. Following the user manual, attach the lid and turn it to lock it in position.

3. Place the pressure cooker on the stove and turn the heat element or burner control to 'High.' Leave it on 'High' for 8 - 10 minutes, during which time the water inside will have reached boiling point and steam will have begun to be emitted from the pressure release valve. This is when a steam vent cap is placed upon the pressure release valve. Through this vent cap, steam is emitted in four directions rather than one, as was the case long ago.

4. Reduce the heat to 'Medium' for 6 - 8 minutes.

5. Turn off the heat. Remove the pressure cooker to an unheated element. Leave to sit until the steam-controlled metal stop is heard to drop down with a metallic 'thunk' sound. 

6. Remove the lid. Remove the vegetables to a heat-proof container. Decant the liquid to another heat-proof container. In this case, there were 4¼ cups of liquid remaining in the pressure cooker at the end of cooking.

And that's that. Finished. Caput. Finito.

Lessons learned

The pot was left scarred by the vegetables that were cooked in it.



I'm guessing this is avoidable if a steamer basket is used. In addition, I am not keen on boiled food, preferring it steamed instead. So next time I fire up the pressure cooker, I plan to try using a steamer basket insider.

This is a wee steamer basket found years ago on Spadina (Toronto) in a shop owned and patronized by mainly Chinese customers.

The steamer basket fits perfectly inside the pot.

I will use 4 cups of water in the pressure cooker rather than 6 cups, and the basket should shield the vegetables from the water, yielding steamed rather than boiled vegetables.

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Beet, carrot and blueberry smoothie

Beet , carrot and blueberry smoothie

Yield: 1 smoothie

This beet smoothie contains roughage, i.e., blueberry seeds, so the word 'smoothie' is a misnomer. However, I don't know what else to call it ;-) If the water is omitted, it may be thick -- depending upon how juicy the vegetables and berries are;  that is, it may be like a pudding and, therefore, would need to be eaten by spoon. The fresh mint garnish bursts in the mouth against the concentrated flavour of the beet-carrot-blueberry mixture.

Beet, carrot and blueberries

Ingredients: (all quantities are approximate)

1 small beet, washed, peeled and chopped

1 carrot, washed, peeled and chopped

1 handful, or more, fresh blueberries, washed

1teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

¼ cup water

Garnish: fresh mint (optional)

Preparation:

1. Place chopped vegetables and the blueberries into a blender together with oil and water. 

Beet, carrot and blueberries in blender flask

2. Blend on 'High' until mixture is pureed.

3. Pour into a cold glass tumbler, .garnish with fresh mint, and insert drinking straw.

Beet, carrot and blueberry smoothie

                                                           

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Beet and Oka cheese salad

This raw beet salad makes a wonderful and complete snack. It has all the ingredients necessary for a brunch or mid-afternoon pick-me-up since it contains protein, complex carbohydrates and the oil essential for all-round nutrition.


                                                                                                              Yield: 1 serving
                                            

Raw beet, carrot, celery, blueberries and Oka cheese

Oka cheese, a product of Quebec, Canada, is widely available all across Canada. Information about the product is available at http://www.french-at-a-touch.com/Gourmet/Cheese/oka_canadian.htm and many other sites as well. Of course, you may use a substitute, preferably another soft, buttery cheese.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup grated raw beet

shavings of raw carrot

Oka cheese

sprig of celery leaves

blueberries

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

squeeze of fresh lime juice

Preparation:

1. Thoroughly wash beet, celery, blueberries and carrot. 

2. Peel beet and carrot. 

3. Grate about 1/2 cup of the beet. Pare shavings from the carrot.

4.  Slice 3 thin slices of Oka cheese and lay them on the salad plate. Add grated beet and carrot shavings. Add celery leaves and blueberries.

5. Dribble olive oil over the assembled salad and sprinkle with fresh lime juice.

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