Food Fascination

My office is setting up a community garden, and after hearing many exclamations that beets seem to be a popular item, and “what do you do with BEETS?!?” I was challenged to provide an answer. So, one-cube-away, here you go

Yes, they’re an odd color, and yes, they’ve got a flavor you may not quite be used to. Get over it! Beets are tasty, full of all kinds of vitamins, nutrients, and fiber. Not to mention a great way to add color to your plate (the easiest “diet plan” ever is to make sure your plate has at least four colors of fresh food on it every time you eat.) Beets are useful for both their roots and their greens. The roots are high in copper, vitamins B1, B2, and C. The greens are high in iron, vitamin A, and potassium. So if you’re getting sick of bananas and spinach, throw some beets into the mix. They also have a high natural sugar content (table beets are a cousin to sugar beets, after all) and are buttery-smooth when cooked.

So, grab a few beets from the grocery store and prepare to experiment!
Things to remember when working with beets:

1- Both the greens and the roots are edible, so there is very little waste
2- Don’t peel the beet roots until AFTER they’re cooked, otherwise they will “bleed” both color and flavor. This isn’t true for soups, since the color has nowhere to go but right back into the soup.
3- The juice can stain - in fact, it is often used as a dye. Wear a pair of latex gloves (you should have a box around for meat prep anyway), then use lemon juice to wash off any stains.
4- Like all root veggies, they are tough and crunchy - so use very tiny raw pieces (such as grated beet root) or cook them.
5- Raw beets don’t freeze well - they break down too easily when the ice crystals start forming. Instead, cook and then freeze them.

Recipes:
Roasted Beets
Red Root Soup
Beet Hummus
Ironman Salad
Crimsion Pear Sauce

There are those of us who just don’t like cranberry sauce. (Wait! Before you say that for sure, try these!) Or, perhaps you just don’t want something more fruity than your crazy aunt at the holiday table. Or you’re looking for something new. Whatever the reason, this sauce is absolutely amazing on turkey, chicken, pork - really any white meat. While this recipe calls for some specific types of onions and vinegar, there are ways to substitute if your local store doesn’t have what you need, or you just don’t have it around. This sauce is best served room temperature or warm - try garnishing it with a few sprigs of mint.

You’ll need:
3 medium beets
1 stick (4 Tablespoons) butter
1/2 cup chopped Vidalia onions (or use white onion with 2 teaspoons sugar)
1 can pear slices (while fresh pears are attractive, the canned pears are softer and easier to puree)
3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar (cranberry vinegar or balsamic raspberry vinegar is also a good choice here)
Dash of salt

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. On a large roasting pan covered with foil, roast the beets for 40-70 minutes, or until smooth when poked with a fork. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then peel and cut into small chunks.

In a medium saucepan, combine the butter and onions. Melt over low heat, then allow to simmer until onions are soft.

Add the pear slices, vinegar, beet chunks, and salt to the saucepan. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until it barely simmers. Use a potato masher or ricer to smooth the sauce out, or run it through a food processor or blender for a few rounds. If it is too thick, add a bit of the canned pear juice. Makes about 3 cups sauce.

This salad is packed with iron, calcium, vitamin C, fiber, everything you’d want for a training regimin. This is another great place to use pre-roasted beets. As with most salad mixes, add whatever you’d like or what you have in your fridge - this is just a suggestion to build off of.

You’ll need:
2 medium beets with greens (and extra greens, if you have them leftover from other cooking adventures. Also, if you can find them, combine red and yellow beets for color variation)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow or red onion, chopped (red has extra bite to it, if you enjoy it)
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1-2 cups spinach
Feta cheese
Dried cranberries
Shredded carrots
Your favorite vinegarette or dressing

Slice the greens off the beet roots, set aside.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. On a large roasting pan covered with foil, roast the beets for 40-70 minutes, or until smooth when poked with a fork. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then peel and cut into small chunks.

Rinse and pat dry the spinach and beet greens. Roughly chop or rip into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

In a small frying pan, combine the onions and balsamic vinegar. Cook over medium heat until the onions begin to carmalize (this is easy to do ahead of time in large batches, then store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks). Set the onions aside and take the pan off the heat. Immediately add the greens and allow to wilt in the warm pan.

Combine the greens, onions, beets, cranberries, carrots, and whatever else you’d like. Toss with the dressing and enjoy with a large glass of milk.

Makes 2-3 servings salad

Red hummus? It may bring a few curious stares in the lunchroom, but pair with a pita or some wheat crackers, and you’ll be in crossover cuisine heaven! The beets add a slightly sweeter, earthier taste that pairs so well with chickpeas and garlic, you’ll want to make it by the pound.

You’ll need:
1-2 medium beets (if you’ve got roasted beets already, this is a great place to use them.)
1 can of chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow or white onion, chopped finely
3 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 cup tahini or sesame paste (this is a paste of seasame seeds, most likely found in the “ethnic” section of your grocery store or an oriental / near eastern grocery store.)
1 Tablespoon cumin
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. On a large roasting pan covered with foil, roast the beets for 40-70 minutes, or until smooth when poked with a fork. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then peel and cut into small chunks.

In a small frying pan, heat the tablespoon of olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and saute until soft, about 4 minutes.

Whisk together the lemon juice and olive oil in a small bowl.

In a food processor, chop the beets, onions, garlic, and chickpeas together until smooth. Add the tahini and cumin, and process again. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then replace the lid. While the blades are running, slowly add the lemon juice and olive oil mixture until the hummus is at your desired consistency.

Enjoy!

Makes 2-3 cups hummus

This soup is absolutely amazing for cold, rainy spring days or as a frozen, easy-to-heat-up-on-a-weekday dinner. Serve it with French bread or baguette, and you’ve got a meal. If you already have roasted beets or leftover baked potatoes, go ahead and use them - just don’t boil the soup as long. This is also a great restricted-diet option, as it has no gluten, can easily be made vegetarian, has no dairy, and no soy. The parsnip can be replaced by a carrot if you’d like - parsnips are a white, slightly sweeter cousin to carrots.

You’ll need:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium yellow or white onion, chopped
3-5 cloves garlic, diced
1 parsnip, chopped
4 medium beet roots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 medium russet or Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
2 cups beef or vegetable broth
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 tablespoon basil
1 tablespoon dill
1 teaspoon salt

In a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat the olive oil. Add the chopped onion, garlic, and parsnip and saute until soft, about 3-4 minutes. Add the beets and potatoes and heat for 2 minutes or until they’re beginning to roast. Pour in the broth and spices and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 5-10 minutes, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and let cook until the beets and potatoes are cooked through. Serve as a stew, or for a creamier soup, separate 1/4 to 1/2 of the mixture and puree in a food processor, then stir back into the remaining soup.

To freeze, allow to cool in the fridge, then separate into freezer-safe zipper lock bags or storage containers.

Makes about 4 cups of soup

Roasted, beet roots are easily eaten on their own as a great side dish, but can also be tossed into a salad of mixed greens with feta cheese and raspberry dressing, or frozen for later use. Roasting is also a great way to pre-cook beets for use in other recipes.

You’ll need:
1 pound of beets
1/4 cup olive or vegetable shortening
If desired, seasonings - try basic salt and pepper, or parmesean and thyme, honey and pepper, or even lemongrass. Experiment!

Trim the greens off the top of beets. Wash and lightly rub each beet root with oil or vegetable shortening. Lay out on a baking pan covered in foil. Roast in a 450 degree oven for 40-50 minutes, or until they’re smooth when stuck with a fork.

Remove from the oven and cool, peel and chop into pieces, then go beet crazy! Makes 1 pound of roasted beets.

Today kicks off a new feature on Food Fascination - Make Five. The basic idea is that with fewer than 20 ingredients (all of which are fairly inexpensive and easy to get) and one afternoon or evening of cooking, you can get five dishes, most of which can be frozen and quickly made into a weeknight dinner. It’s an easy way to maximize your time, effort, food dollars, and freezer space - without paying through the nose to go to one of those “make your own meal” places.

We’ll kick of the Make Five feature with chicken recipies. These range from super easy (chicken salad) to easy-but-takes-some-time (chicken pot pie). To make all five and freeze four of them, it will probably take you about 3 - 4 hours - less total time than you’d spend cooking every night for a week.

All five of these recipes are very forgiving on ingredients. You can adjust up or down the amounts in most all of them, so if you don’t have the exact amount of chicken or sour cream or vegetables or whatever, don’t worry too much about it, just use what you have.

Some hints:
~If your store has cheap rotissire chicken, and you’re uncomfortable with cooking your own, by all means, buy those and shred the meat right off the bones. Otherwise, just poach all the chicken in a few big batches at the start of the cooking marathon and use it as you wish. More in recipies you want extra chickeny, less in those you don’t.

~The chicken salad should be made last, to use up whatever chicken you’ve got left. If it’s not much, then make a smaller amount. If it’s a lot, you’ve got a good lunch for a few days.

~Add extra veggies to the pot pie! If you’ve got leftover broccoli, cut it small and throw it in. Pot pie is where you want to use up leftover veggies or small amounts you’ve had sitting in your freezer.

~While the shopping list includes wine, don’t feel obligated to use it. It can just as easily be replaced with chicken broth or milk. If you do want to use it, use whatever white wine (NOT pink - white zinfandel and white shiraz should stay in your glass) you like to drink. The inexpensive brands that still taste pretty darn good that I tend to keep around and use are Banrock Station and Barefoot. Try chardonnay or pinot if you’re not sure.

~You can usually pick up chicken fairly inexpensively in the “Manager’s Special” section of the butcher block in your grocery store. Or wait for the “buy one get one free” deals and stock up. Usually chicken in the larger packages is cheaper. Chicken thighs are usually cheaper than breasts, but the meat is a bit fattier and darker. Perfectly fine to use, still, though.

Make Five Chicken Shopping List:

8 - 11 pounds chicken - either chicken thighs, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or precooked rotissire chicken.
1 pound container Sour Cream
4 - 5 cups Shredded Cheddar or Colby Jack cheese
5 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
1 small can diced Chilis - you can find this by the salsa or Hispanic foods
2 bunches fresh or about 20 ounces (2 packages) frozen Broccoli
1 cup Bread Crumbs
2 small bags of your favorite frozen Veggie Mix
1 or 2 medium white onions
2 - 6 cloves Garlic, or a small jar of the pre-chopped garlic
1 package prepared Biscuits, pie crust, or croissants
2 - 3 cups Miracle Whip / Salad Dressing or Mayonnaise
1 stick Butter
1 bottle (at least 2 cups, if you have an open bottle) White Wine
8 - 10 “gordita” sized Tortillas
3 cups Milk
1-2 boxes Long Grain and Wild Rice

Bonus items (if you want to spend an extra few dollars)
Chicken stock or bullion
Parmesan Cheese
Olives
Basil, thyme, rosemary, chili powder
Lemon Juice
Red pepper or pimento

Make Five Recipes:
Chicken Enchiladas
Chicken Divan
Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken and Creamy Wild Rice Soup
Basic Chicken Salad

Chicken salad is probably one of my all-time favorite go-to dishes. It is quick to make, can hold a huge variety of ingredients, and is easy to make up into sandwiches or a single-plate lunch. Start off with the basics, try a few variations, and then let your imagination (and taste buds) run wild. This is a perfect recipe to use up leftover chicken you have from other recipes, last night’s dinner, or the cheap rotisserie chicken at the store.

1 - 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs or 1 pound shredded chicken
1 - 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise or salad dressing / miracle whip
1 box Long Grain and Wild Rice

In a deep frying pan or wide saucepan, cover the chicken with water (if you have it, add a cube of bullion or teaspoon of chicken stock). Place over medium-high heat. Let the water reach a boil, and poach chicken for 8-12 minutes, or until cutting into the thickest part of the meat reveals no pink.

Set poached chicken on a plate and allow to cool until you can comfortably handle it. (In the fridge, if you’re in a hurry) Shred or roughly chop the chicken - don’t worry about making it look pretty.

Prepare the wild rice according to package directions.

Combine shredded chicken, mayonnaise, and wild rice in a bowl. Refrigerate - serve alone, on a tortilla, on bread, with crackers, however you care to try it.

Try adding:
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup sliced red or green grapes
1 small red apple, sliced into small chunks
1/4 cup feta cheese

This is a great mix-up of your traditional cream of chicken soup. Like all soups, it’s a great way to get rid of the little bits and pieces of leftover vegetables you’ve got sitting in your fridge - and makes a wonderful wintery lunch.

1-2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 1 - 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1-3 cloves garlic
1/2 a medium onion or 1 small onion (optional)
2 cups milk
1/2 to 1 cup white wine (optional - just replace with milk or chicken broth if you don’t have or want to use wine)
1 small box Long Grain and Wild Rice

In a deep frying pan or wide saucepan, cover the chicken with water (if you have it, add a cube of bullion or teaspoon of chicken stock). Place over medium-high heat. Let the water reach a boil, and poach chicken for 8-12 minutes, or until cutting into the thickest part of the meat reveals no pink.

Set poached chicken on a plate and allow to cool until you can comfortably handle it. (In the fridge, if you’re in a hurry) Shred or roughly chop the chicken - don’t worry about making it look pretty.

Prepare the long grain and wild rice according to the package directions.

Chop the garlic and onions into small pieces. In a medium soup pot, saute them together with a small amount of oil, until they’re softened. Add the cream of chicken soup, milk, white wine, shredded chicken, and rice. Heat through and serve.

There are plenty of things you can add to this soup. Try adding corn for a more hearty meal. Or throw in a few teaspoons of cayenne pepper for a bit of heat. Small amounts of rosemary or thyme make great seasonings. This also freezes well - just pour into freezer-safe containers, let cool, uncovered in the fridge, then seal and pop into the freezer. To reheat, just put in a pot over very low heat.

Pot Pie is one of the classics of winter and / or “homey” cooking. Smooth, creamy sauce, flavorful vegetables and chunks of chicken are all combined into a bowl full of happiness. There are many, many approaches to making this dish - if you have a favorite vegetable to throw in, or prefer a flaky pie crust to a biscuit crust, then go for it. I’ve put a few of the possible substitutions and/or possible ingredients - really any combination of them should work well. If an ingredient line has an “OR” just choose one of the options. Make this your own!

2-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts OR 2-4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs OR 3-5 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 medium onion, chopped OR 1 small package pearl onions
2-4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped OR 2-4 Tablespoons processed garlic OR 3-6 Tablespoons garlic powder
1-2 packages frozen vegetable mix OR 3-4 cans vegetables OR 4-6 cups fresh, chopped vegetables (carrots, celery, corn, red pepper, etc)
2 cans cream of chicken soup - OR 1/4 cup butter, 1/3 cup flour, and 2-3 cups chicken broth
2 cups milk
1/2 cup to 1 cup white wine (OPTIONAL)
Any combination of basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, and pepper that sounds good to you. (Approximately 1-5 teaspoons each)
1 package pre-made biscuits OR 1 package pre-made roll-out pie dough OR 1 batch baking powder biscuits (try Bisquick if you don’t want to make your own) OR 1 package pre-made croissant dough

In a deep frying pan or wide saucepan, cover the chicken with water (if you have it, add a cube of bullion or teaspoon of chicken stock). Place over medium-high heat. Let the water reach a boil, and poach chicken for 8-12 minutes, or until cutting into the thickest part of the meat reveals no pink.

Set poached chicken on a plate and allow to cool until you can comfortably handle it. (In the fridge, if you’re in a hurry) Shred or roughly chop the chicken - don’t worry about making it look pretty.

In a large frying pan, combine the onion and garlic (and celery and carrots if you are using them) with a small drizzle of oil or 1-2 teaspoons of butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened.

In a large, deep, pot (a thick-bottomed “dutch oven” works well, if you have it) start the sauce.
If you are using the cream of chicken soup, combine that with the milk and white wine. Stir well.
If you are using the butter and flour, melt the butter in the bottom of the pan. Stir the flour in with a whisk or fork. Slowly add the chicken broth, then the wine (see this post for more information on roux, which is what you just made.) Add the spices to taste.

To the sauce, add the chicken, onion/garlic mix, and vegetables (just dump frozen veggies into the mix. Drain and dump the canned). Heat this on the stove over medium-to-high heat, stirring occasionally. While the filling is heating, preheat the oven to whatever temperature is recommended on your bread package. If you are using baking powder biscuits, this is usually 400-ish.

Open the topping package and / or roll out your topping dough.

If you have been using an oven-safe pot (this means NO PLASTIC, even on the handles) and have at least 3/4 of an inch of room between the filling and the lip of the pot, use that. Otherwise, dump the filling into a casserole dish. While the filling is still hot, place the topping dough on it and pop it in the oven. You want to do this while the filling is still hot so the bottom of the topping cooks as well - otherwise, it will be a doughy mess with a cooked top crust, no matter how long you bake it.

If you want to freeze pot pie, simply ladle the filling, without the topping, into freezer-safe containers. Allow to cool, uncovered, in the fridge. Once it’s cold, seal up and freeze. When you’re ready to make dinner,  reheat the filling over medium-low heat in saucepan. Once it’s hot and bubbly, top it with your dough of choice and bake as usual.

Bake until your topping is golden brown. Wait a few minutes for it to cool, and enjoy!