How to Eat the Rainbow

Growing up, I'm sure you had people tell you to "eat your vegetables." Maybe they added "Now, darling, you are what you eat." But have you ever noticed how you might feel slightly more invigorated, energized, even alive when you eat fruits and vegetables? Come on... Just a bit?

I think so.

So this salad came about one day when I was semi-cleaning out the fridge one Saturday night. I had been taking inventory for what I would need to get the next day during my weekly grocery run. I had some leftover cooked yellow beets, and wonderful sun-dried tomatoes. I almost always have baby arugula or spring greens in the fridge -- and lucky for me, this time I had some wonderful carrots (which is rare, as during the winter, I cave and get baby carrots for easy snacking. They're easier and more delicious than the ones in stores). Inspired by a family friend and carpenter who strives to have a dinner plate featuring every color of the rainbow, I chopped and mixed all my ingredients together. 

I used my favorite simple maple-Champagne vinaigrette to bind it all together, and served it alongside a piece of artisan bread with a hunk of cheese on top. Simple, yet so good. While I had this with a glass of Grenache from Australia, it would be really good with a crisp Italian Pinot Grigio or Pinot Bianco -- or a buttery California Chardonnay.

Now, this salad is even better when all of these vegetables are in their prime, but that probably won't be again for a couple months, when the greenmarkets carrots appear. I'm already excited for this year's  carrots. They're SO sweet.

Rainbow Salad

2 cups greens, like arugula or mesclun

2 yellow beets, cooked, peeled, and chopped

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

8-10 sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped

Salad dressing, to coat

Toasted bread, for serving

A good cheese, for serving

Pasta with Creamy Goat Cheese Sauce, Beets, and Beet Greens

As published on The Daily Meal

This is one of my new favorite go-to meals. Beets are readily available at your local farmers market year round, as the root vegetables can over-winter. I like to buy red and golden beets with fresh-looking greens, as I like to use the whole vegetable. Just this past Friday, I purchased some beets and immediately cooked up the roots for a salad (pop them in water, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer, cooking until tender, about 45 minutes, depending on their size. When a knife inserts them easily, they're done). Today, I chopped up the washed stems and sauteed them in a big of Argan oil. Then, I added the clean leaves, cut into a chiffonade, and a pinch of salt. A healthy winter green alternative to chard or kale!

This dish can be made using pantry staples. It's an easy and relatively healthy alternative to heavy cream sauces like Carbonara. Pairs well with whole-wheat pasta, too.

6 red beets, greens removed and set aside

3 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 cup heavy cream

4 ounces fresh goat cheese

1 package of pasta, cooked according to package instructions

Wash the beets and greens. Place the beets in a 6-quart saucepan and cover with water by 2 inches. 

Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and gently cook until the beets are tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from the cooking liquid and let cool.

Meanwhile, cut the beet greens and the top 1/3 of the beet stalk into thin strips. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a 10-inch sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the beet greens, a pinch of salt and sauté until just wilted.

Then add the cream and goat cheese to the beet greens and cook over medium heat until the cream begins to bubble and the goat cheese begins to form a sauce with the cream. Add the pasta and continue to cook for about 3 minutes longer.

While the pasta warms, remove the skin of the beets and chop into 3/4-inch chunks.

Serve the warm pasta on plates and garnish with the beets.

Serves 4

A Simple Winter Salad for a Healthy Weeknight Meal

You know those weeks. You plan ahead, purchasing some yummy fruits, vegetables, and proteins with the best of intentions to cook every night you're home that week. 

Then the week begins, and you're swallowed WHOLE. Yes, you typically work late one night a week, and sometimes take work home on an additional evening. But EVERY NIGHT?! For me, it happens often, and typically on those weeks I've planned on cooking every night -- not working.

Now, this is where my favorite part of cooking comes in -- making do with what you have and the time you're dealt. I planned on making a bunch of rice and some lentil stews this week; healthy and light, yet filling and nutritious. Now that time I was to devote to the kitchen was to be spent in front of my laptop.

What to do? Be imaginative. 

Tuesday night, I began the week whipping up a big batch of Wild Mushroom Soup. Did I eat it for dinner? Nope. While I was busy chopping vegetables, I put a big pot of water on for a couple nights worth of whole wheat and einkorn pastas (I also had to make my saucepan multi-task for me; I only have one saucepan!). Then once the pasta was ready, I drained it and put the pot back to work, sauteing onions, garlic, and carrot for the soup.

While I dined on a hearty whole wheat pasta, tossed with sauteed beet greens, beets (inspired by an old favorite), and a dab of some leftover Devonshire Cream I had on hand from last week's party, and of course a garnish of Colston Bassett Stilton, I began working on the soup.

Wednesday night, I ended up inhaling two bowls of that soup, garnished with a bit of pasta and proscuitto. Thursday, I dined out with one of my darling friends at my favorite tapas place. 

Ah, then Friday. It was a beast of a day. Now, Fridays are usually the one day of the week I always work until 8pm. It's quiet, and there are at least three of us laboring away on things for the week ahead. Yeah. That intention went out the door this week! Completely exhausted, I knew it would be better for me to go home and make a nutritious dinner, and tackle that story over the weekend. Both the story, and myself, would benefit from the decision.

The big question remaining: What to make for dinner?

My delicious red and yellow beets I cooked Monday after my run were a must. Of course, they pair perfectly with creamy, salty proscuitto. On top? A lightly dressed spinach salad, and a garnish of carrot coins from the greenmarket. And, because I'm a cheese snob and what goes better with beets than blue cheese, a garnish of my latest favorite, Colston Bassett Stilton.

Beet and Blue Salad

3 slices proscuitto, thinly sliced

1 red beet, cooked until tender

1 yellow beet, cooked until tender

1 large handful baby spinach

Your favorite dressing (mine is equal parts maple syrup, grapeseed oil, and champagne vinegar, shaken with a minced shallot, salt, and pepper)

1 carrot, peeled and sliced thin

Stilton, or your favorite blue cheese, for garnish

Line large dinner plate with proscuitto. Top with slices of beet, alternating colors. Toss greens with dressing, to taste, and place atop beets. Garnish with sliced carrots and blue cheese.

Perfect served with a hearty slice of pain de campagne and a flavorful olive oil.

Entremetier Musings and Memories

I was going through emails today after about 6 weeks of hiding and lack of internet, and came across some pictures of tasty tidbits from my time in Entremetier in Level 6 at FCI.

For those of you who don't know, Entremetier was in charge of the specials of the day. In Level 5, Entremet, as we called it for short, prepared the Chef's Classic special (ranging from Jacques Pepin's Lamb Chop, to Chef Pascal's Choucroute Garni) and a vegetarian special of their own creation (some of my favorites being wild mushroom papardelle and a butternut squash ravioli with brown butter sauce). In Level 6, Entremet was to make the canape for all restaurant diners (ranging from 30 people on a snow day to nearly 100 for lunch during the holidays) and a special sandwich.

Here are three examples of creations made during my four days in Level 6 Entremet. You'll find the tomato soup and beet burgers recipes on the blog, too!

Beet Burgers - for 90 people

Fresh Salmon Tartare on Pommes Gaufrettes with Cilantro-Lime Crema

Tomato Soup with Grilled Gruyere Sandwiches and a Mache Salad

A Better Beet

There is this restaurant in upstate New York, complete with its own spacious farm (from apples to beets to carrots, ducks and pigs...to watermelons, herbs, yellow squash, and so much more). The ever talented Dan Barber is the chef...Blue Hill at Stone Barns is its name. And EVERY time I go, I am in culinary heaven.

From the incredible space (think lofty, meticulously restored barns, proper yet subtle lighting, captivating floral arrangements, yet simple layout and clean design), to the impeccable service (there are MANY waitstaff around, and most are supremely attentive, yet they are never in your way), and the absolutely divine food (farm fresh that day, the menu is...well, it's not really a menu. It's whatever preparation the chef is thinking and feeling that day, influenced by what is freshly picked and likely what the day presents).

I've been to Blue Hill at Stone Barns a couple of times now, and though they have pushed aside their turkey tail rolls (never was a big bread eater when dining out until Stone Barns...thank you for converting me, Dan...but my waist thanks you for taking these off the "menu"...), their "mini Beet Burgers" have been presented as an amuse every single time I can remember. That is DEFINITELY a good thing, as these little morsels are the perfect combination of flavors, colors, and as far as I'm concerned, food groups!

The beet burger, to my understanding (Dan, if you or another Blue Hill staffer is out there reading this and I'm incorrect, please let me know), begins with a not-too-sweet almond financier type of "bun." It's definitely almond-y, and there is a hint of sweetness, but not like a cookie. This bun is sliced in half, like a proper burger bun, and on the bottom half lies a dollop on beet puree. Literally, cooked beets finely chopped in your food processor. Add to that another dollop of fresh goat cheese, and a sprig of mache -- or as I prefer, a de-stemmed piece of baby arugula. Cap it off with the top of the financier/burger bun and voila!

I've been thinking about these little morsels often recently, partly because next week I have to create a canape to serve at L'Ecole. They are so elementally simple, but the flavors, when put together, truly sing I think. So, when my pastry chef was presented with a rather large bucket of almond financier batter Friday afternoon (ironically, I had already told her I wanted to learn to make a not-too-sweet financier batter that morning), I immediately had visions of beet burgers as my weekend project. 

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon, quart container of almond financier batter in hand. Add a little creativity, and some artistic license. And here, I present to you my version of Blue Hill's Beet Burger Sliders.

Almond financier batter (Try this one from Epicurious.com)

Beets (I had three rather large ones)

Plain goat cheese (I like Laura Chenel's, but any soft and fresh goat cheese will suffice)

Baby arugula or mache

Salt to taste

Financiers: I preheated my convection oven to 325 degrees F and lightly buttered a kind of non-stick mini muffin tin (if I had a real nonstick I would NOT have greased it as the batter has lots of butter/fat in it). I baked them about 15-20 minutes, until they puffed nicely and a tester came out clean. I then cooled them in the tin.

Beets: After taking off the greens, I placed the beets submerged in cold water and brought it to a boil in a covered pot over high heat. I then lowered the heat to a simmer and cooked the beets about 45 minutes until easily pierceable with a knife. Cool them in an ice bath and then peel. Place the beets in a food processor and process until nearly a paste. Put aside.

Goat cheese: I took some cheese out of the package and warmed it up a bit so that it was easily spreadable.

Greens: I used arugula and took the stems off some larger leaves -- I like the peppery bite this green offers in contrast to the creamy cheese and sweet beet.

Assembly: Slice a financier bun in half (or really 2/3 up from the bottom, as the top is larger than the base). Place a dollop of beet paste on the bottom, then a dollop of goat cheese. Lay an arugula leaf on top, and cap with the top of the financier. Then, stand back to marvel at your morsel of delicious-ness...and then eat it!!

Enjoy!