In 1997, after novelist Paul Auster wrote about a fictional artists named Maria Turner, the artist about whom the text was loosely based acted out the projects of Maria Turner. French artist Sophie Calle began a work called "The Chromatic Diet" and ate foods of different colors each day.
This spring, a friend of mine who lives in Rhode Island, kindly cut a whole pile of plywood for me at the woodshop of an art school where he works. As repayment, he challenged me to create a meal entirely out of beets.
Months later (the work which the plywood was made for has been shown and sold, so the trade is way past overdue), I finally made good on my promise, making seven dishes and a drink, each using beets as their primary color and flavoring. It was a lovely event (12 people in total showed up to sit on my stoop and eat), the food was good (if I can say that about my own doings), but aesthetically, it was amazing. Bright pinks all over (even my dress).
I'd like to make a habit of this, since it gave me a chance to try out a whole heap of recipes and cook for almost a full day.
Here are all the things I made with recipes. Though the inspiration came from many great food blogs, I've been testing and tweaking these recipes over the past months. Since they're fairly different, I think I'm allowed to claim them as my own. Also, sorry not to have better counts on how many each serves, I would guess good servings of six per recipe (unless otherwise noted) though we served 12 on small portions.
First things first, wash your beets, cut off greens (always buy beets with greens attached, they're so good, and so good for you), place beet root in foil and roast at approx. 400 for 40 minutes to an hour. when soft, unwrap and use for all these recipes!
Beet Juice Spritz!
When I spent the summer in Italy when I was in college, the university students began drinking around four with "ora di Spritz." Spritz is basically a white wine spritzer with a glug of Campari or Aperol (Aperol was what I preferred, which was apt, as I was living in the city of its origin - Padua - and it is made with (among other things) rhubarb). Sometimes they add an olive for good measure. My version adds beet juice from all the roasted beets I prepared.
-roast beets in foil for 40 minutes to an hour at 400 degrees (or wherever around that). when soft, set aside beets for millions of other things, strain the juice that has collected in the foil.
-1 part beet juice to 4 parts Aperol makes your bitter.
-mix white wine, seltzer, beet/aperol mixture in equal parts. serve over ice.
Citrus Beet Salad
This is a citrus beet salad twisted.
-peel and section 4 oranges and 4 grapefruit.
-dice 4 roasted beets
-mince 10 leaves mint, washed and dried.
-1/4 cup black olives, thinly sliced
-1/2 lime, juiced
-olive oil, salt, pepper to taste.
toss and serve (by itself or over greens, we were lucky to have it over greens Pennie and Aaron grew)! tastes different than any beet salad I've ever had.
Beet root Hummus
-1 roasted beet (pealed)
-2 cloves garlic
-1/4 cup tahini
-2 cans (or 2 cups) chick peas, drained and rinsed
-1/4 cup olive oil
-spash of lemon juice
-salt to taste
Mix it all up in a food processor. The most amazing color you've ever seen. Try and not eat it. Try. Serve with veggies or home made bread or pita.
Wilted Beet Greens with Pine Nuts
In the early summer when you are thinning your garden, use those baby beet greens for this recipe. Or go to the farmer's market and stock up. I'm lucky that my local Stop and Shop stocks beets with greens attached. I hear that other grocery store shoppers aren't so lucky.
-wash beet greens from one bunch beets (maybe 2 or 3 cups) throughly (they're usually really sandy, lately mine have had helicopters from the trees mixed in, which are not so tasty!).
-slice and discard thick stems.
-heat 2 tbs olive oil in wide skillet, add 2 cloves garlic, 1 shallot or other white onion diced.
-add chopped beet greens and cover. allow the greens to wilt, mixing every once in a while. if the pan gets too dry, add a few tbs of water at any time.
-while cooking, toast 1/4 cup pine nuts in another pan.
-add salt, pepper, cayenne pepper to taste.
Serve hot.
Beet and Fennel Soup, Chilled or Hot.
We have fennel growing wild in our garden (garden isn't really what we have, rather a bunch of flowers, lemonbalm, fennel and wild onions, but who is keeping tabs), so it was nice to use it for once.
-4 roasted beets, skinned.
-1/4 c. water
-1/2 onion, roughly chopped
-4 cups vegetable broth (I think that's one container)
-1 large fennel bulb chopped
-1 granny smith apple, chopped
-2 teaspoons vinegar
-2 teaspoons lemon juice
-salt pepper to taste
-greek yogurt and fennel leaves for serving
Bring broth, fennel bulb and apple to a boil in saucepan. Simmer until the fennel is soft, about ten to fifteen minutes. Add onion and beets to the broth, stir. Puree. Stir in salt, pepper, vinegar, lemon juice. I chilled it, but my roommate serves it hot. Spoon into bowls, add a tablespoon of yogurt and a sprig of fennel. Enjoy.
Beet and feta tart
This recipe can use roasted or unroasted beets. I've done both with little difference in the results. If I am roasting a whole bunch of beets and don't quite know what I'll do with them, the roasted is fine. If I want this and I've just gotten home from work, I'll use raw.
For Crust:
-2 sticks chilled butter
-2 1/2 cups flour (1.5 whole wheat tastes best)
-1/4 c water
-pinch salt
Divide evenly, pat into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill while preparing filling in the fridge. You'll use only 1/2 for this recipe. Make an apple pie!
Filling:
-Skin 2 medium beets, grate or chop finely.
-4 eggs
-1/2 cup feta
-salt and pepper to taste.
Spread all that stuff evenly over the crust in a pie or tart pan. Bake at 350 until set (about 30 minutes).
Vegan Beet and Beet Green Risotto
My go to vegan recipe for having people over for dinner. The color is outstanding, and it makes a huge pot. It even tastes better the second day as leftovers. For those of us, ahem, who love the cheese, add some Parmigiano-Reggiano at the table.
-3 medium roasted beets (with greens, chopped)
-1 cup white wine
-1 big container of vegetable stock (what is that, 4 cups, I don't know)
-1 cup water
-1 small onion, diced
-2 cloves garlic
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-2 cups Arborio rice
-2 tablespoons lemon juice
-salt and pepper to taste
Peel roasted beets, chop greens and set aside. Over medium heat, heat oil and add onion and garlic. Do not brown. Once caramelized, add the rice, stir vigorously for 1 minute. Add white wine. Stir sporadically (most recipes say you need to stir all the time, but I was doing everything else at the same time, and I was more than fine. I am also notoriously relaxed about directions in the kitchen, so...). Once the wine is absorbed, add the vegetable stock and water about a cup at a time, waiting for the previous cup to absorb before adding the next. Stir. After two cups, stir in beet greens and beets. Continue to add water or stock and stir. After everything is absorbed, you'll notice a change in the rice, as the starches come out. It will be creamy, unlike most vegan dishes without any soymilk or nutritional yeast. Season with salt and pepper, add the lemon juice and take off heat. Stir one last time. Let sit for five minutes before serving. The lemon juice will mellow pretty quickly.
And FINALLY Beet Chocolate cupcakes
This recipe is tried and true, adapted from Pinch My Salt, I use it all the damn time to impress people with slightly purple incredibly chocolate filled cupcakes. They taste damn good.
-2 C. whole wheat flour
-2 teaspoons Baking Powder
-1 teaspoon Baking Soda
-pinch salt
-1/2 C Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips (I insist on the Ghiradelli, and it matters)
-1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds
-1/4 C. butter
-2/3 C. Ghiradelli chocolate chips
-1/4 cup brown sugar (i have skipped this, as I have a friend who doesn't eat sugar, and it tasted fine. the original recipe calls for three times as much, so think about that. beets are so damn sweet you don't really need that much).
-2 eggs
-2 beets, pureed
-2/3 cup yogurt
-1 teaspoon vanilla (I've skipped this and never known the difference, but, yeah)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. This will make about 16 muffins, so get that ready. I use silicone muffin liners, and in a year, they have more than paid for themselves, so that is something to think about.
Combine the first five ingredients (before the line break), set aside. In a saucepan, melt chocolate and butter on low. set aside to cool. In another bowl, compine eggs, sugar, vanilla, yogurt and chocolate mixture. Mix this with the dry ingredients. Spoon into cups, fill about 3/4 of the way. Bake for about 15 minutes (my oven, which runs hot, always needs 17 minutes, but that's just me). They're done when a toothpick comes out clean.
Yes! Enjoy. xoxo.
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