Pages

.

Swedish baked beets

Swedish baked beets are traditionally eaten with salted fish. They are also delicious served with beef, lamb, bison, or wild fowl. Eat this dish however you choose: hot out of the oven, at room temperature, or cold as an alfresco summer picnic dish.


Swedish baked beets


                                                                               Yield: 4-6 servings

Oven: 240℃  (460℉)

Ingredients:

3 medium-sized beets
1 large red onion
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
½ - ¾ cup commercial soured cream
Garnish: 5 -6 sprigs fresh dill


Preparation:

1. Wash beets. Remove beet leaves, leaving about 2.5 cm. (1 in.) of stem attached to the roots.

2. Using 1 tablespoon of olive oil, coat beet roots in oil. Place whole beet roots in an aluminium foil cooking wrap, add a dash of salt and pepper, and close the foil wrap securely. Place the foil wrapped beet roots in a heat-proof baking tray. Bake at 240℃   for approximately 1.5 hours. 

Cooking time required will vary with the beet's size, origin and type, and with your elevation above sea level. Wearing heat-proof oven mitts, test the roots for doneness by gently pressing the them with your fingers.If the root gives way slightly, baking is complete.

3. Peel red onion and slice into 8 to 16 wedges, depending upon the size of the onion. Place onion wedges on a baking tray. Drizzle with the other tablespoon of olive oil. Add salt and pepper, if preferred. Bake at the same time as the beets. The onion wedges should require approximately 20 - 30 minutes if placed below the beet roots. Less time will be required if the wedges are placed high in the oven. 

When the onion wedges are just slightly singed on some tips, remove from the oven, loosely cover, and set aside.


Roasted red onion wedges

4. When the beet roots are baked, remove them from the oven. Slip the peels off. Quarter the beets into wedges and, possibly, divide the wedges again into bite-sized wedges, depending upon the size of the beets.


Baked beets, fresh from the oven


5. Arrange baked beet and red onion wedges in a serving dish or on a serving plate. Either add dollops of sour cream over the vegetables, or place the sour cream in a separate serving dish. Garnish with fresh dill. 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Kumquat: The Inside-Out Citrus (...that's not necessarily citrus)

References to kumquats (gam gwat - golden orange) can be found in Chinese literature in the 12th century.  Kumquats preserved in salt and stirred into hot water are a Cantonese remedy for a sore throat.

They are neither an orange nor are they consistently identified as citrus. They are classified in the genus Fortunella, named for Robert Fortune, the Scottish botanist. Fortunel brought the 'nagami' (oval kumquat) to the West in the mid-1800's and it remains the type. Other types are: the meiwa, the marumi and the Hong Kong kumquat. (From: Saveur)

I'd seen them around over the years, but I had NO clue what to do with them and if I'm to be honest, I'll tell you that I wondered why the hell you'd go to the necessary trouble to peel something so small (Oh! Ignorant! DivinaLoca!).

I buy my avocados at the Brokaw Farms stand at the Ferry Plaza farmer's market. They mostly grow avocados but they grow and sell other fruit, notably delicious Gold Nugget mandarins, blood oranges, cherimoya (these are amazing- and another "Who knew?" moment after I  popped my cherimoya this winter) guavas and meiwa kumquats. Will's are the only kumquats I've knowingly eaten, but I've read that the meiwas are sweeter than other varieties.

One morning I bought a handful. When I got them home I cut one open, surprised at the tiny amount of pulp compared to the peel, and seeds - there were two or three seeds per kumquat. In the spirit of "What the hell", I popped one in my mouth.

SourSweetAromatic~Wow!~ButTheSweetIsComingFromThePeel~WOW! Seeds were no bother, I just crunched right through them. I buy them every week now when they're available but like strawberries, I never seem to get around to doing anything with them, I just eat them.  Last night, Liz (of Today's Special) posted that she, "...sliced [them] in a salad with toasted walnuts and shaved Piave cheese..." I might actually stop the hand-to-mouth repetition for that.

Other recipes I'm looking at are:


What about:
  • Salsa - with kumquats, red onions, cilantro, and maybe a little chipotle in adobo?
  • Vodka-Kumquat infusion? Kumqua'cello?
  • Lamb stew with kumquats and olives?
  • A warm salad of lightly sauteed chard with kumquats and shallots?

Although it has already passed (it is held in late January), Florida has a kumquat festival or you can watch a cute-bordering-on-annoying video on how to eat a kumquat on YouTube, or you can just trust me and when you see them, buy a few and just pop one in your mouth.
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Moroccan chard with lamb

Fresh lamb is readily available in the shops during this spring season. Many prefer lamb to ham for Easter meals. 

If you liked the Moroccan chard recipe, you'll love this dish. It comes to you courtesy of a Moroccan colleague who liked my Moroccan chard recipe. He strongly recommended using vegetable oil because of the high temperature required for searing the lamb. I, however, do not use vegetable oil. I noted his instructions but adapted the ingredients to my own taste. I used coconut oil in this, my own version of the dish he described.

Moroccan chard with lamb, steaming hot and fresh from the pan

                                                                              Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 lamb chops
2 large red-stalked chard leaves, washed
2 large white-stalked chard leaves, washed
1½ cups red onion, diced small
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground paprika
¼ teaspoon ground red (cayenne) pepper
1 tablespoon coconut oil
fresh ground sea salt
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice


Preparation:

1. Slice the stalks away from the washed chard leaves. Slice the stalks, crosswise, into 5 mm. (¼ in.) slices. Set aside.

Chopped chard
2. Slice the chard leaves crosswise, to produce strips about 1 cm. (less than ½ in.) wide. Then roughly chop these strips crosswise. Set aside.








3. Slice away and discard the fat from four lamb shops. Pare the meat from the bones. Slice the meat into bite-sized pieces. 

4. In a saute pan, heat the olive oil and add the diced red onion. Saute over low heat for about 3 minutes until the onion becomes translucent. Add the sliced chard stalks, cayenne, black pepper, cumin and paprika.  Cook over medium heat for 3 - 4 minutes. 

Sauteed red onion and chard stalks

5. Remove contents of the saute pan to a heat-proof holding dish.

6. Return the saute pan to the heat. Add the coconut oil and raise the heat to high. Add the chopped lamb and the bones to the sizzling hot coconut oil. Sear the chunks of lamb on all sides to seal in the juices, then reduce the heat to medium and fry for up to 5 minutes, until the inside is still slightly pink. 

Seared lamb

7. Add the contents of the heat-proof dish to the saute pan and heat through.

8. Add the sliced chard leaves and cook without stirring until leaves are wilted. Add sea salt to taste.

Chard slices wilting over seared lamb, chard stalks
and red onion


9. Remove from the heat and turn out into a serving bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Beet greens smoothies

Beet greens, beet leaves, beet tops: call them what you will but whatever you call them, know that they are nourishing food. And when eaten as raw cuisine, they deliver the maximum essential nutrients.

These beet green smoothies are made with the minimum of fuss. They are perfect for our busy modern lifestyles. They taste delicious and, what's more, they provide hefty portions of the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables.

So don't throw those beet greens away. Drink them instead.








Beet greens, star fruit and cucumber smoothie












Beet greens and dragon fruit smoothie











Beet greens smoothie







Beet greens and celeriac greens smoothie
































reade more... Résuméabuiyad

How to Make a Roasted Beet Salad ♥ Recipe

Roasted Beet Salad
Today's beet salad recipe: Just roasted beets with a little cheese (feta or goat or blue) but somehow, so much more. So rich and full of satisfaction, just one (Old Points) or two (PointsPlus) Weight Watchers points.

Never met a beet salad I didn't love, nope, nary not a one. If there's a beet salad on the menu, odds are high (as in 99.9%) that I'll be chomping at the beet bit. I recall one memorable beet salad at the Snake River Grill in Jackson, Wyoming three years ago, another at Brasserie here in St. Louis just last week and dozens in between. I love how chefs vary a simple roasted beet salad, some times dressing up the beets, but often just letting them stand alone almost-black and all aglisten.

But it was our friend Maxine Stone – the Maxine I call her now, she of Missouri's Wild Mushrooms, the guidebook to foraging for mushrooms commissioned by the Missouri Department of Conservation plus the Hot 'n' Sour Chickpeas everyone's loving – who's had me lusting for one beet salad after another. At dinner one relaxed and unseasonably warm April Friday evening, she laid out a simple supper, mushroom and butternut squash ravioli (St. Louisans, watch for these in the freezer at Viviano's On the Hill, they were fabulous) sauteed with tiny bites of morels and asparagus; roasted beets with goat cheese; and a simple salad and good bread. Among friends, what a feast!

My version starts with roasted beets served at room temperature for the most flavor, with a few chunks of good feta – which, at room temperature, also turns as creamy as goat cheese, but with fewer calories. A good stinky blue cheese? Yes, that would be dreamy too. I use just a teaspoon of olive oil to make the beet cubes slickery, a touch of lemon juice to brighten it all, a quick chop-chop of fresh dill (or chive or basil or tarragon or ...) for contrast, a sprinkle of salt and a dash of pepper. That's it. Sublime.
Keep Reading ->>>
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Moroccan chard

All the nutritional benefits of Swiss chard are captured in this lightly sautéed, flavourful dish. The recipe produces enough for one person, therefore, you should increase the quantities in accordance with the number of adults who will be eating.

Moroccan chard

                                                                                   Yield: 1 serving

Sliced chard stems and leaves,
paprika, cayenne, cumin
and lemon
Ingredients:

2 large chard leaves with stalks, washed
1 small cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup vegetable or poultry stock
 large pinch of fresh ground black pepper
 large pinch of ground cumin
 large pinch of ground paprika
 large pinch of ground red (cayenne) pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice



Preparation:

1.  Slice the stems away from the washed chard leaves. Slice the stems crosswise, into 1 cm. (smaller than ½ in.) slices.

2. Slice the leaves crosswise, to produce strips about 1 cm. (less than ½ in.) wide.

2.  In a saute pan, heat the olive oil and add the minced garlic. Stir and cook until the garlic releases its fragrance. 

3. Add the sliced chard stems and vegetable or chicken stock. Reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 3 minutes..

4. Add spices. Stir and cook for 1 minute.

5. Add sliced leaves. Stir until leaves are wilted. Cover and simmer for 1 minute. Remove the cover and continue cooking for 2 minutes. 

6. Remove from heat and turn out into a small bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
reade more... Résuméabuiyad