Charlene's Kitchen in Philadelphia: Chicken with Grated Beets

Last month I had an abundance of beets on my hands. I had received some golden yellow beets in my CSA share and never got around to cooking them (good thing they keep forever in the frige). Then, red beets were part of the next share. While I like beets, I was feeling bored with the typical roasted beet and goat cheese salad. Epicurious to the rescue! I found a really simple recipe for grated beets and chicken topped with orange butter: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Grated-Beets-and-Beet-Greens-with-Orange-Butter-355772



I did as the recipe suggested and grated the beets using my new food processor. Very fun! The recipe is nice because both the chicken and the beets are cooked in the same pan - great for easy clean up. And it utilizes the beet greens, which are a delicious bonus (too bad they cook down so much). Shallots and sherry vinegar gave the beets and greens a nice zesty flavor, which tasted great alongside the refreshing orange butter.

We recently planted beet seeds in our backyard garden and the greens are starting to pop up, so I can definitely see this dish making an appearance in my kitchen again!


Chicken, Grated Beets, and Beet Greens with Orange Butter
serves 2
from Epicurious.com

1 1/2 tablespoons butter, room temperature, divided
1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange peel
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons chopped shallots
2 medium red beets with greens, greens stemmed and coarsely chopped, beets peeled and coarsely grated
2 teaspoons Sherry wine vinegar, divided
1/3 cup water

Mix 1 tablespoon butter and 1/4 teaspoon orange peel in small bowl. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Add to skillet and sauté until cooked through and golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Place 1 chicken breast in center of each plate; tent with foil to keep warm.

Melt remaining 1/2 tablespoon butter with 1/2 tablespoon oil in same skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots; stir until tender and beginning to brown, about 1 minute. Add beet greens; toss until leaves are tender but still bright green, about 2 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon Sherry wine vinegar; stir 30 seconds. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Spoon greens alongside chicken; cover to keep warm. Add grated beets and 1/3 cup water to same skillet; cover and cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and continue cooking until beets are tender and water is almost evaporated, stirring often, about 1 minute. Add remaining 1 teaspoon vinegar; stir 30 seconds. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spoon beets onto plates. Spoon orange butter atop chicken and serve.

Charlene's Kitchen in Philadelphia: Chicken with Grated Beets

MollyD's Kitchen in Seattle: Pickled Beets

I'm not cooking much beyond throwing things together, and thus I haven't posted in a while. Then, the other day, I spied some winter beets in the back of our crisper drawer and decided it was time to bite the bullet and do something with them. I considered roasting them as usual, but I usually tire of roasted beets' flavor before they go bad, which seems like a greater waste than leaving them alone in their uncooked potential. Instead I took a cue from a jar of Ikea herring and decided to pickle them, a great way to use a big ol' beet and have it last.

I googled pickled beet recipes and saw several suggestions of cloves, which complement beets' earthy sweetness. Since I recently picked up a small bottle of clove extract (in alcohol, not oil, which would just float on top of the pickling liquid) I ran with the idea, and with the “earthy sweetness” theme in mind I also added some balsamic vinegar.

Initially I wasn't preparing a blog post on this, so I eyeballed and tasted, and the following measurements are entirely guesstimated. You could halve or double it without problem, or use different ratios of balsamic vinegar to mild vinegar to water; it's a pretty mild pickle, so if you want something stronger you can fill the jar to the top with vinegar. Finally, I'm sure whole cloves would work in place of the extract, though I'd use a fair amount to ensure enough flavor extraction that they wouldn't be overwhelmed by the balsamic. Regardless, all of this recipe is flexible and to taste.

Pickled Beets

2 large beets or equivalent in small beets, with any long greens or tail removed

2 T balsamic vinegar

¼ c rice vinegar or white vinegar

½ tsp salt

few drops clove extract

water

1. Place beets in pot and cover with water. Bring to boil, then lower to simmer. Go do something else.
2. Remove beets from pot when knife can be inserted into center without resistance. Let cool, then peel off skin with fingers and, if necessary, a paring knife.
3. Quarter, then slice into ¼-inch pieces. Place into quart jars.
4. Add all other ingredients, then water to cover.
5. Refrigerate and eat over the next few weeks.

So what do you do with pickled beets? Obviously there's salad, but despite the lettuce in our fridge I haven't felt like it. Instead I chopped a few slices along with some of the pickled herring, mixed in mayonnaise (sour cream would be good too), and spread the Swedish-inspired mixture on toast. Today I made a closed tuna melt in the toaster oven (slice of bread + tuna salad + sliced cheese, plus a separate slice of bread), then laid some beets on top of the cheese before closing the sandwich; the mild, soft beets didn't ruin the texture or dominate the flavor, and it was a surprisingly nice combination. Pickled beets are more adaptable than you might think!

MollyD's Kitchen in Seattle: Pickled Beets

Sasha's Kitchen: Pasta with Lemon, Arugula and Golden Beets

Recently I was at the organic market and saw that they had fresh, seasonal golden beets.  Until recently, I had only had golden beets in restaurants and had only cooked with regular beets which turn everything they touch bright pink.  I love golden beets - they are easier to work with in the kitchen and have a pleasant sweet taste.  I can't really describe the difference but as a beet fan, I like them better than the typical magenta variety.

I decided to create a pasta dish that was light and refreshing and that would showcase the fresh summer beets.  This pasta dish is basically a salad, but for the pasta.  It can be served cold or warm and showcases the bitterness of the arugula with the sweetness of the beets.  I added goat cheese, but you could certainly use parmesan or pecorino. The lemon is the perfect accompaniment for this dish - it adds a pleasant refreshing quality to the light olive oil based sauce. This is the perfect healthy summer meal.

Sasha's Summer Pasta with Lemon, Arugula & Golden Beets
1 box of spiral pasta (fuselli)
2 golden beets, cooked and peeled
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
3 oz baby arugula
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (a lemon flavored olive oil would be a delightful substitute)
6 oz goat cheese crumble

To prepare this dish, make the pasta al dente. Prepare the beets by boiling them for about a half an hour.  Rinse them in cold water so they are cooler to the touch and peel off the skin with your hands.  Slice the beets and mix them in the pasta dish with the lemon juice, lemon zest and olive oil.  When the pasta has cooled slightly, mix in the goat cheese crumble and the arugula.  This was delicious!

Pasta

Sasha's Kitchen: Pasta with Lemon, Arugula and Golden Beets

Sasha's Kitchen: Wild Salmon with Organic Baby Carrot-Ginger Puree

My original plans for this dish involved making a celery root puree, which is something I have often enjoyed at restaurants (recently inspired by a great dinner at Mas Farmhouse in Manhattan for my husband's birthday).  I had ordered a large celery root from Fresh Direct recently and what arrived was a large root vegetable that looked like a brain.  I didn't have time to figure out how to turn it into a puree during the week so I went for a simpler organic baby carrot puree this time with the salmon.  I'll do the celery root tomorrow night with scallops.

My plans for this dish were to showcase wild organic salmon with some fresh seasonal vegetables.  I decided to use organic baby carrot for the puree, which I prepared with ginger and a bit of cinnamon.  Then, I added local fresh golden beets from the organic market.  I am a huge beet fan, but I truly love golden beets because they're just as delicious and sweet but they don't turn everything in creation magenta so they are much easier to work with.  They are also perfectly in season this time of year.  If you prefer, I think this dish would also taste great with steamed asparagus.

Sasha's Salmon with Organic Baby Carrot - Ginger Puree
2 filets (7 oz each) or organic fresh salmon
16 oz (one bag) of organic baby carrots
3 tsp of minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 lemon
white wine to taste
2 golden beets
small amount of arugula

To prepare the puree, cook the carrots in your steamer until soft. Puree in a blender or food processor with the cream, chicken broth and ginger.  Stir in the cinnamon to taste and set aside.

To prepare the salmon, I simply cut up a lemon and baked the fish (at about 350F) with sliced lemon on top, and poured some white wine over the top of the fish.

To prepare the beets, I boiled them for about half an hour.  Then, I cooled them in some cold water and rubbed the skin off and sliced the golden beets.  If you are using asparagus instead, you can simply steam the asparagus and add a bit of lemon juice.  I plated the fish in the puree with the beets, and garnished with a bit of fresh arugula.

Salmon

Sasha's Kitchen: Wild Salmon with Organic Baby Carrot-Ginger Puree

Sasha's Kitchen: Ad Hoc's Cream of Cauliflower Soup With Red Beet Chips

I recently realized that not a single Thomas Keller recipe has been featured on this blog yet.  It's certianly time to change that!  Keller, the renowned celebrity chef and owner of a number of world famous restaurants, including The French Laundry, Per Se, Bouchon and his newest restaurant, Ad Hoc, which opened in 2006.   I have been to Bouchon and hope to make it to Ad Hoc on my next trip to Napa Valley.  I have not been to Per se or the French Laundry, as reservations there will set you back quite a few pretty pennies, but they have earned their reputations as some of the best restaurants in the world according to my friends who have dined there.  I am very excited about Thomas Keller's new cookbook, Ad Hoc At Home which brings Thomas Keller's celebrity kitchen to the everyday chef in a more accessible manner.  Sure, the French Laundry cookbook looks absolutely amazing, but even I was too intimidated to make the $70 investment in the book and the time investment required to make any of the recipes inside.  Never mind - Ad Hoc At Home  makes Thomas Keller accessible to the proletariat.  My first recipe from the cookbook, the Cream of Califlower Soup With Red Beet Chips was a huge success.  I plan to make his caramelized scallops next.  Please note that I am posting the full soup recipe, but I halved the recipe to serve two, which was perfect for our dinner!

Ad Hoc At Home's Cream of Cauliflower Soup With Red Beet Chips
2 heads of Cauliflower
4 T butter
3/4 cup chopped leeks
3/4 cup coarsely chopped onion
1/2 tsp curry powder (Keller only uses 1/4, but I like a bit more curry)
kosher salt
2 cups milk (I used skim milk)
2 cups water
2 cups heavy cream
canola oil for deep frying the beets
1 tsp white vinegar
croutons (I didn't make my own like Keller suggests, I just used Mrs. Cubbison's store bought croutons)
1 medium red beet
extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

First, remove the leaves from the cauliflower and cut out the core.  Coarsely chop the cauliflower.  Reserve about two cups of the florets for the garnish and place aside.  Coarsely chop the leek and onion.

Melt three tablespoons of butter in a large pot or Dutch Oven.    Add the onion, leek, curry and cauliflower to the pot and season with 2 tsp of salt.  Cover the pot with a lid and cook on medium heat for twenty minutes until the vegetables are almost tender.

Add the milk, cream and water and increase heat to medium high.  Then reduce to a simmer, and simmer the contents for thirty minutes, skimming off the foam occasionally.    Then allow the soup to cool for about five or ten minutes, and puree in the blender.

To prepare the beet chips for the garnish, fill a pot with an inch of canola oil.  Slice the beet super thing with a mandolin and fry for a couple minutes in the oil.  The place the fried beets on a paper towel to allow the oil to run off.  The beets are absolutely necessary to make the soup work, so don't skip this part, even if you are wary of beets (like my husband was).  The purpose of the beets is threefold - they add texture, color and a bit of sweetness.  Yum!

To prepare the reserved cauliflower garnish, take the cauliflower you set aside and boil in some water with salt for five minutes until the florets are tender, along with a teaspoon of vinegar.  The vinegar will allow the florets to retain their white color.  Then, drain the florets and saute in a tablespoon of butter.

Serve the soup with the florets, croutons and beet chips, and season with pepper.  This recipe was fabulous!

Sasha's Kitchen: Ad Hoc's Cream of Cauliflower Soup With Red Beet Chips