Cooking with beets #3

I had bought some beets at the market the other day but as group was canceled due to quarentine and Alsiter doesn't like the beet salad himself- I needed a way to use them up . We just happened to be having pasta so I grated one up to add to the marinara Sauce.
The color was spectacular - though it did color the noodles a bit magenta - but the result in flavor was unnoticable while adding loads of nutrients.

A success in my book.

Sbeet Apple Crisp

We had group last Friday and I bought 2 kilos of beets. I figured that it would be enough for salad and a few left over for Blue Cheese Beets. Well I definitely had enough for all that . . . and then some.

I also had some apples left over from chutney (My mother-in laws recipe - It turned out wonderfully!) and figured there would have to be some sort of apple/beet crisp/cobbler/pie recipe of sorts out there somewhere on the internet. Wrong - while I ran into apple and beet salad recipes - there was nothing for my sweet tooth that called for both apples and beets.

I tried searching beet desserts - and came up with a few more options - but by the time I ran into Beet Mousse I decided enough was enough and I was going to make my crisp - recipe or not.

The trick to making unusual dishes is to make sure that those who you want to eat it don't know what is in it until after they have tasted it. It worked in high school when I served Chicken Liver Pate and it normally works for me as well with Alister when he asks what we're having. "Something tasty", I reply.

My vague answer didn't serve me today though - he caught me in the middle of preparation. "I like beets, but in dessert?" He did promise to try some and I even said I would add whipped cream to sweeten the deal.

The crisp turned out FANTASTIC. I borrowed the idea of cardamom from the mousse recipe and also added allspice and about a 1/4th cup of white sugar and a dash of flour - coating my 3 chopped beets and 4 chopped medium apples. I didn't have any lemon, but if I had I would have added a tablespoon or two of juice. I threw this mixture in a baking dish and made my crisp topping. Flour, brown sugar, butter, oatmeal, allspice, and chopped walnuts mixed together and sprinkled over the top.
Half an hour later - the crisp was out of the oven and ready to be topped with whipped vanilla cream.

Obviously, if I'm putting it on my blog - it was fantastic. Alister actually asked for seconds. Not only are the colors beautiful but the flavor is delicate, tart, sweet, and woody (the nuts) all at once. When you throw in the beets' added Vitamin A, C, calcium and iron this dessert is one that you can even feel good about having seconds.

Beets

So several months ago, my sister wrote a blog entry on discovering the tastiness of beets. I had been about ready to do a post on the theme myself - but decided to defer it for a time.
The time has come!
Beets are incredibly yummy. I remember once mom making beets and it being awful - I still remember the brown colored water, the putrid odour, and the childhood indignity of having to eat this vile vegetable. I never gave beets any further consideration - until coming to Ukraine where the national food - is borsch - a tasty soup made with beets - but actually not many and so it tastes nothing like the them. However, the fact that the beet borsch didn't kill me encouraged me to order them at a restaurant in England last February - Beets au daphine - they were AMAZING and I have been searching for a recipe ever since, but to no avail.
But, I bit the bullet and decided to try the beets anyway.
Are they good beets?, I asked the babushka in the market.
Excellent she said shoving a few specimens towards me.
Great, I 'll take two.
As she bagged up my purchase and gave me my change I asked - By the way, what do I do with them?
She gave me a recipe for salad -

Boil the beets until soft, peel them, chop them up, add mayonnaise, salt, and a little bit of garlic. I made the salad at the next bible study group - and people liked it - even though my beets were a bit crunchy (in fact the Ukrainians didn't know they were beets!) I served it again the next week too - this time with properly boiled beets - and it was received even more enthusiastically.

While this salad was good - I found I just loved munching on the beets with nothing on them but salt! Her beets were really good - another purchase, this time from the supermarket - did not yield such yummy results and the beets had to be smothered in mayonnaise to make them yummy.

However, the best recipe so far (other than the beets au dauphine) is one I found on NPR

Roasted Beets with Blue Cheese Sauce and Spiced Walnuts
Serves 6
4 medium beets
1 pint heavy cream
6 ounces Maytag blue cheese
Spiced walnuts (see recipe below)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
If beets have stalks, trim stalks 1/2 inch from beet. Wash beets gently under water, then wrap individually in aluminum foil.
Roast beets for 1-2 hours depending on sizes. A knife should slide easily into the beet, through foil, when done. Allow to cool to room temperature.
While beets are roasting, put cream in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and add blue cheese. Stir constantly until cheese has been fully incorporated into the cream.
Pour the cheese mixture into a food processor and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cool to room temperature.
Remove beets from foil, then remove beet skins using a paper towel. (Wear kitchen gloves to avoid staining your hands.)
Cut roasted beets into desired shapes.
Drizzle cheese sauce over beets, then top with chopped spiced walnuts.
Spiced Walnuts
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Dash cayenne pepper
Dash sea salt
Black pepper to taste
Melt butter over medium heat in small saucepan. Add walnuts, then spices and toss for 30 seconds. Allow to cool to room temperature.