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How to Eat More Vegetables: Tip #9

How to Eat More Vegetables:
We all know we should eat more vegetables. But how, how do we do that, really? What real-life tips and ideas work? How can we build our lives around the healthiest of all foods, vegetables? Every Saturday (and the occasional Sunday when the day before was such spring loveliness that the thought of sitting down to a computer was the last thing even the most ardent vegetable lover would do), the 'veggie evangelist' shares practical tips and ideas from her own experience, her readers and other bloggers.

And now for this week's tip:

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Baked beet and black beans with pork

Baked beet and black beans with pork is slow food made in the old-fashioned way. A ceramic bean pot or dutch oven is required for slow baking in a hot oven. The combination of flavours creates a subtle undertone of sweetness that urges your diners to ask for second helpings. Mmmm-mmmm, it will be delicious with your smoked Easter ham.

Baked beet and black beans with pork

Baked beet and black beans with pork is a meal in itself, full of the health benefits of beets and beans, including an abundance of protein, dietary fibre, calcium, and other minerals.

Set oven to 460℉  (240℃)
Cooking time: approximately 4 hours
                                                    
                                                            Yield: 8 - 10 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup dried black beans
2-3 cups water for soaking

6 dried shiitakes
1 cup water for soaking

1 medium beet root, 5 cm. (2.5 in.) in diameter
1 cup diced red onion
2 minced garlic cloves
1 cup lean ground pork
1½ cup diced tomatoes in tomato juice
1 tablespoon old-fashioned prepared mustard
2 tablespoons raw molasses
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
3-4 grinds of black pepper corns

Dried black beans

Pre-preparation:
1. Wash black beans.  Drain and discard the water. Place beans in a lidded container. Cover beans with 2 - 3 cups water. Cover with lid and leave to soak overnight. 

2. Place shiitakes in a lidded container. Cover with warm water and leave to soak overnight. 

Clockwise: shiitake, diced tomatoes in tomato juice
soaked black beans, and red onion
Preparation:

3. When assembling ingredients, drain the shiitake liquid into a separate container and reserve for later use in cooking. Slice the stems off the shiitakes and store them in the freezer for another time when making stock. Thinly slice the shiitake. place them into the bean pot.

4. Slice and dice red onion, and mince the garlic cloves. Add to the bean pot.

5. Drain water from soaking black beans into a separate container and reserve for later use in cooking. Add beans to the bean pot.

Grated raw beet


6. Wash, thinly peel, and coarsely grate the beet.  Add to bean pot.

7. Measure lean ground pork. Loosen the mince and mix the pork into the ingredients in the bean pot.

8. Add tomatoes, mustard, molasses, apple cider vinegar, pepper, cinnamon and cloves. Mix into ingredients in the bean pot.

9. Add strained liquid reserved from soaking shiitake. If ingredients are not covered with liquid, add strained liquid reserved from soaking black beans but only sufficient to just cover the ingredients.

10. Place in oven at 460℉ ( 240℃) for 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 425℉  (220℃) and bake for 3 - 4 hours. 

Test the beans for done-ness after 60 minutes. To test, remove one bean from the pot and squish it with an ordinary table fork. If completely soft, the beans are cooked as is everything else in the bean pot, so remove the pot from the oven. Most likely, the baked beet and beans will require at least another hour or two of baking at 425℉. This depends upon a number of factors, including the elevation above sea level where you live; even more than 4 hours of baking time could be required. In any case, bake covered until the beans are soft. Keep the contents covered with liquid by adding strained liquid from soaking the black beans, or use plain hot water.
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Gingered beet juice

Beet juice is said to be a liver cleanser (especially beneficial for treating a condition known as fatty liver). Ginger improves digestion and boosts the circulation of fluids.

Gingered beet juice

This beet juice seems a bit counter-intuitive, but do try it before you decide it isn't for you. It tastes sweet, earthy and a bit fiery because of the fresh ginger. 

The mouthfeel of this beet juice is clean from the slight astringency of the Canada Dry™ ginger ale. If you choose to use Jamaican ginger beer instead, leave out the fresh ginger. Otherwise, you may find this juice to be too sharp and bitter.


                                                  Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients:

1 small beet root
1 cm. (½-in.) chunk fresh ginger root, peeled
1 cup Canada Dry™ ginger ale

Preparation:

1. Wash the beet and ginger.

2. Cut the beet into small chunks. Put these and the ginger through the juicer.

3. Strain the juice into a glass. Top it up with ginger ale.

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Roasted Radishes: Good News/Bad News

"RUN! RUN BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
My kingdom for opposable thumbs!  Or legs!"
(Yes, these are the radishes speaking)
Good news: I really liked the greens.

Bad news: Roasted radishes remind me of roasted chunks of zucchini and do not even taste like radishes.

Do not want.

I did some research and pulled the recipe from a trusted source - still trusted - but figure this is a "chacun à son goût" difference of taste.

My advice is, don't throw your radish greens out - sauteing or roasting the greens is a good idea. Leave your radishes in the crisper and eat them raw - or pickle them.  If I ever do this again, I'll crank up the heat and just cook them long enough for some color, sauteing the greens separately - or I'll roast the greens 'til just crispy (they were very good!). The likelihood of me roasting radishes again is - oh - somewhere around exactly "hell no".

If you want to give this a shot, go for it. Believe me, I'd love to find out I was doing this wrong as my love of roasted things knows no bounds. In the mean time, I'm going to dream of sliced breakfast radishes on a baguette spread with sweet butter and sprinkled with sea salt.



"It's too late for us, but at least we're together"
Roasted Radishes with their Greens

Serves 4 as a side.
Oven: 350 F

Ingredients:
  • 2 bunches of radishes, cleaned and halved
  • Leaves from the two bunches, thoroughly washed - as many times as necessary to get ride of any soil and dry in a salad spinner or by employing the whirling towel method.
  •  2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • Salt - about 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste.

  • Black pepper to taste
Method:

Preheat the oven with the rack in the middle.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil - leave it bare if you like washing stuff - and lightly brush with some of the olive oil.

Toss the radishes and greens with the remaining olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and toss.

Turn the radishes and greens onto the prepared backing sheet.  Roast for 10 minutes and remove the greens - the edges should be crispy.  Continue to roast for another 5 minutes.
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Six Years of Favorite Asparagus Recipes

At last! Asparagus season is here -- first with fat bunches from the grocery store, soon enough with thin spears that erupt from the earth almost overnight. Here are my favorite asparagus recipes, collected over six years now.

FIRST, A FEW ASPARAGUS (AHEM) TIPS
Asparagus is a member of the lily family!
Fat spears of asparagus are best for roasting. Save the skinny spears of asparagus for salads, quick sautées, steaming.
During the season, an Asparagus Steamer comes in handy. It cooks the asparagus standing up, the thick bottoms are closest to the heat and cook a little more, the tender tips are at the top and cook just to perfection.
Asparagus, especially home-grown asparagus, needs a really good cleaning, otherwise, the asparagus can be gritty. Soak the spears in cool water, then rinse under running water.
Spears of asparagus have a natural breaking point. Just hold a spear in both hands, gently bend the spear near the bottom, working your way up until it snaps naturally. Below the breaking point, the asparagus can be more woody and fibrous.
Yes, many asparagus eaters will notice an odor in their urine almost immediately after eating. No worries, it's natural and will go away. But it doesn't happen to everyone -- and not everyone is able to detect the odor!
White asparagus is common in Europe -- it's grown underground!
Early-season asparagus is noticeably sweeter than late-season asparagus. To compensate, try soaking late-season asparagus in sugar water (4 teaspoons sugar per cup of water) before cooking. This tip comes from the wonderful On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee.
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Celery Root and Spring Onion Mash with Roasted Garlic


I've nothing against mashed potatoes -- I love them, just far, far too much. I cannot have a potato in my house without cooking it and consuming it (along with its siblings) with obscene quantities of cheese, butter or other dairy products. It's a fact that I can (and do) live with.

I needed something that would stand up (literally and taste-wise) to the jus and gravy from a pot roast (or a Thanksgiving turkey...), like mashed potatoes, but not BE mashed potatoes.  I saw a recipe for a spring onion mash but thought that wouldn't have the structure I needed.  I have been on a bit of a celery root tear and have seen many recipes and restaurant menu dishes over the years for celery root puree and celery root and potato puree. Boiled celery root has (approximately) 1/3 the calories and 1/3 the total carbohydrates of boiled potato (if that matters to you).

What if you cooked some spring onions down with a little salt and olive oil and mixed them with cooked celery root that you'd squeezed the bejesus out of to get rid of a lot of the juice and then mashed them together with roasted garlic?  Would it work? Would it taste good - delicious, even?

Hell, yes!

The first time I made them, I added some marscapone cheese and a tablespoon of butter and extended them with some mashed cannelini beans.  Yeah, you can do that and it's great, but last night I just stuck with the three basics: celery root, spring onions and roasted garlic.

Update: Leeks work too. 

Celery Root and Spring Onion Mash with Roasted Garlic
Serves 3-4

Equipment: stick blender or food processor

Ingredients
  • 1 celery root, peeled and cubed in 1" pieces (about 5-6 cups)*
  • 2 cups chopped spring onion (white and light green parts.**
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil + extra
  • 3-4 cloves of garlic roasted, removed from their skins and mashed.
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 2 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon finely chopped Italian parsley.
  • 1 clean (very clean) kitchen towel.

(* add juice of 1/2 lemon to a bowl of water - throw your cubes in the bowl with a plate on top to keep them submerged in order to keep them from getting brown.  I don't bother with this step as long as I'm cooking everything right away.)

(Update: Leeks work too. I used about 3 cups (raw) chopped leeks (white and light green parts) and four garlic cloves.)

Method

Add the celery root to a pan (4 qt +) plus enough water that when it simmers, there's at least 2 inches under it (the celery root cubes will be floaty.**  If you added your cubed celery root to acidulated water, drain and give it a quick rinse before you add it to your pot. Add a pinch of salt.  Bring to a boil, covered. Partially remove the cover and turn down to a strong simmer.  Check it after 15 minute and every 5 minutes thereafter. If you remove a chunk, you should be able to mash it easily with a fork.

Heat up a small sauce pan or skillet on medium high heat.  Add 1 tablespoon of the extra virgin olive oil and add the chopped spring onions and season with a pinch of salt.  Let the onions cook down but don't let them take on any color - adjust the heat down and periodically add a tablespoon of water if the pan's getting too dry.  You want them to break down.  This will take around 10 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and once it's cooled down a little, add the onions and the mashed roasted garlic to a mixing bowl, or the bowl of a food processor.

When the celery root is done, drain it (drain it over a bowl if you want to make stock - see: Celey Root Stock) and let the celery root cool until it's lukewarm.  Line a bowl with your clean kitchen towell and dump in the celery root. Gather the kitchen towel around the celery root and twist it until liquid comes out (do this over the bowl - you'll use this liquid later!). Keep twisting until the celery root in the towel is moist, but not completely dry.  You will have about 1/4 cup of liquid in your bowl.

Dump the squeezed celery root into the mixing (or food processor) bowl with the spring onions and roasted garlic. Add a couple pinches of salt  and a few grinds of pepper and start to blend with the stick blender (or pulse in your food processor) until the ingredients are combined.  Taste and adjust the seasoning. If the mixture is too stiff, add some of the liquid you squeezed out - about a tablespoon at a time.  If you run out of the liquid, add a tablespoon of olive oil. When the seasoning and texture is right (kinda like mashed potatoes, yes?), add the two tablespoons of chopped parsley and mix just enough to incorporate it. Sprinkle each serving with a little more chopped parsley and a little drizzle of olive oil.

This can be cooked in advance and heated up in the microwave or the oven.

(** You could cut a round of parchment to fit your pan (with a little hole in the middle) and to keep the cubes of celery root at or below the water's surface - I'm okay if you do, or do not).
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