fenneled beets

I discovered a new beet recipe. Many, many recipes pair roasted beets with a minted viniagrette, and I can see why. I've substituted parsley, or other fresh herbs I have on hand, but it's just not the same. I've been eyeing this recipe from Deborah Madison for beets with fennel vinaigrette, but I so love the minted beets that I have been unable to stray from my old stand-by. I somehow acquired a large supply of beets in my drawer, so I finally tried the new recipe. An extremely simple recipe, and a completely different tasting one. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the beets acquire a flavor that is greater than the sum of its parts. Maybe it's the sherry vinegar???

Roasted beets with anise vinaigrette, adapted from Deborah Madison
1.5lbs. beets (I used a combination of yellow, purple and chiogga)
salt & pepper
1t. anise seeds
1 garlic clove
2t. sherry vinegar
2T. olive oil

Preheat oven to 375deg F. Peel beets and cut into 1/2in. dice. Toss with a sprinkling of olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread in a single layer on a sheet pan and bake until beets begin to caramelize, and are tender, around 35 minutes. Crush anise seeds with garlic clove and a pinch of salt. Whisk in vinegar and olive oil. Pour vinaigrette over beets and marinate for several hours or overnight (this really makes a huge difference).

rhubarb marmalade

Moving along with my jam-making spree, I made a batch of rhubarb marmalade. It made roughly 6 80z. jars of preserves, and took ~2lbs. of rhubarb, 2 oranges (juice and zest), 3/4lbs. of sugar and half a box of no-sugar required pectin. I also grated ~1 inch of ginger and added that, too. I have become more daring with the pectin, and used less than half of what was called for. It is still sweet, but you can taste the tartness of the rhubarb more. I do think you could use less orange, because this stuff is pretty orangey. It has a nice peach hue, but I was expecting it to look more pink.

rhubarb souffle

When presented with too many leftover egg whites recently (probably as a result of making too much ice cream), and not having enough for an angel food cake, I began to scour my cookbooks for interesting recipes. In the Silver Spoon cookbook, I came across a recipe for rhubarb souffle. Given my love for rhubarb, this immediately seemed appealing. Also, the entire concept of making fruit souffles seemed to create endless possibilities. It essentially involved making a rhubarb compote on the stove top, then stirring the compote into whipped egg whites. That the recipe said to stir and not fold the rhubarb into the whites seemed odd to me, as well as clearly destined to deflate the whites, but somehow it seemed to work. In retrospect, there isn't a drop of fat in the recipe, which probably explains it. It miraculously also seemed to be more stable than past souffles I have made. Lifting it out of the oven, it looked amazing, like a giant pink meringue.

Rhubarb Souffle, The Silver Spoon
7oz. rhubarb, sliced into thin matchsticks
1C. powdered sugar
3T. superfine sugar
4 egg whites (120g)

Sprinkle powdered sugar ove r the rhubarb and sit at room temperature 2 hours. Preheat oven to 325 deg F. Grease a souffle dish, or other oven-proof dish with butter and coat with sugar. Add superfine sugar to 2T. water in a sauce pan, and bring to a boil. Add the rhubarb and cook for 2 minutes. Beat the egg whites until stiff; add rhubarb mixture and beat for 1 minute. Pour into prepared dish and bake for 25 minutes.

spring-early summer ice creams

I hauled out my ice cream maker recently, in a blatant attempt to demonstrate to Jon that ours is in desperate need of replacement. When we received it as a gift nearly 10 years ago, it seemed to be a complete extravagance - who really makes their own ice cream? Apparently, us. We have used it so much that the container is warped to the extent tht the top barely manages to stay on when it's churning, and we long ago had to tape down the button with packaging tape. Last year, Jon ordered a new blade to replace the one that had cracked and been repaired with duct tape (this was sweet, but also irritating, since this was one of my arguments for replacing the machine). So far this spring, I have made three ice creams; fresh mint, strawberry and mint/basil. There really is something special about homemade ice creams. Last year we developed a chocolate-strawberry-balsamic recipe, inspired by a gelato we used to purchase at Zingerman's. I am going to make it this year with my strawberry jam - hopefully it turns out as good. Tonight I am eating the strawberry, and thinking that it would make a good combination with the mint/basil in the freezer.

napa cabbage

I feel very fortunate to have been exposed to two new vegetables recently: kohlrabi and napa cabbage. When we got the kohlrabi, it arrived with pea tendrils, and I was miraculously able to find a salad recipe which used both. For the napa cabbage I improvised a recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, and despite missing several ingredients/not quite having enough of a few things, it was amazing. I imagine it would be even better made as described.

Napa and Savoy Cabbage Salad with Peanut Dressing
1/2-3/4lb napa cabbage, sliced
2-3 carrots, grated or julienned
1 cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
3-6 scallions
1/2lb savoy cabbage, sliced
2T. chopped mint
1T. sliced basil leaves
1/4-1/2C. peanuts (optional)

Peanut Dressing
1/4C. roasted peanut oil
2 1/2T. apple cider vinegar
1T. soy sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1 serrano chile, diced
2 scallions, diced
2T. mint leaves, chopped
2T. basil, chopped
2T. cilantro, chopped
pinch salt

Make dressing: combine everything and mix together. Add salt to taste.
For salad, toss together vegetables and herbs. Pour dressing over top and toss to mix. Sprinkle with nuts if using.

Note: the recipe as written calls for thai or anise basil, which I didn't have on hand. I also made it without the nuts, and it turned out fine. The amounts of herbs can be varied to ones liking, and it can be made without the chile, but it is not nearly as good.

strawberry jam

We finally got a day of sunshine, after what seemed like a beautiful spring turned into an entire month of rain in June. Somehow, the strawberries managed to pull through. We've been getting quarts from our CSA share every week, and we picked over 20 pounds of strawberries in Concord last weekend. We ate so many both our fingers and mouths were red and sticky, and even my tummy was starting to hurt (only a little). I tried a new tart recipe that I was not very satisfied with. Then we made jam. I made two kinds of jam from a recently purchased book, Jams Jellies and Chutneys, by Thane Price. My first batch was strawberry-rhubarb, which I added fresh grated ginger to half of, and vanilla bean to the remaining half. Both of these tasted amazing, and of the moment I cannot decide which I like better. The larger batch was pure strawberry jam, and the recipe was interesting in that the sugar, berries and lemon juice were mixed, then macerated overnight. Following this first incubation, the mix was boiled, then incubated for 48hours. A friend recommended that I try Ball's no-sugar required pectin; I was extremely excited about this, since my major objection to many preserves is that they are just way too sweet for my liking, and that the sugar disguises the pure fruit taste. After purchasing the pectin, I noticed that the recipe enclosed called for some form of juice (mostly apple or grape, depending on the fruit); I had neither, and since I wasn't planning on going sugar-free, but just sugar-less, I chose to ignore this addition. All of the preserved set fine, and I used half the amount of sugar indicated. I may try less next year, but I didn't want to completely ruin my first shot.