Roasted Carrot and Beet Salad

Saeyoung is done with her internship and we're finally in the same place at the same time! We've been doing this awful shuffle all summer where I'm in Orange County while she's in Los Angeles and then mid-week we switch off. She makes my work week in Orange County infinitely more bearable.

She's been cooking dinner for the family lately since she isn't working anymore. You will notice her beautiful panzanella salad blogged about below. Today she made scallops with a tropical fruit salsa, which I am sure she will blog about later. It was quite delicious.

My contribution to dinner was a roasted carrot and beet salad with a minted greek yogurt dressing. It tasted fine but I think the plate looked too busy. I'm blaming it on the cucumber chunks in the dressing, it was one ingredient too much. Also the pine nuts were probably unnecessary. And the avocados were tasty but somewhat clumsy on the plate.

Edit edit edit. As in writing, as in food, all the same rules apply.

Ingredients:

2 medium beets

1 cup peeled baby carrots

1 sweet potato

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/3 teaspoon cumin

pinch of cinnamon

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 teaspoons of salt

4 garlic cloves

for dressing:

1 1/2 cups of greek yogurt

juice of half a lemon

2 cucumbers, small dice, optional

3 teaspoons of chopped mint

1/2 teaspoon of crushed garlic

salt to taste

1. preheat oven to 400

2. wash and trim beets

3. wrap the beets along with the whole garlic cloves tightly in foil, making sure that there are no open vents for the steam

4. roast in the oven for about 1 hour

5. cube the sweet potato so that the segments are about the same thickness as the baby carrots

6. toss the carrots and the sweet potato cubes in a large bowl with the olive oil, the spices, and about 1 teaspoon of salt

7. spread the carrots and the sweet potatoes on a lined cookie sheet, making sure that none of the pieces are overlapping

8. bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes. you can just stick them in the same oven as the beets when the beets reach the 30 minute mark

9. remove the beets from the foil and let cool

10. when the beets are cool enough to handle slip their skins off and slice into thin rounds

11. arrange the beets on a platter

12. crush the roasted garlic and toss with the roasted carrots and sweet potato

13. top the beets with the roasted carrot/sweet potato/garlic mixture

14. garnish the dish with avocados if you like

15. spoon the dressing on top

for the dressing:

1. in a food processor, combine all the ingredient minus the cucumbers

2. when blended, salt to taste and then add the cucumbers

3. you can make the dressing in advance and keep it in the refrigerator until ready to use

Let's Re-Evaluate Our Priorities

I'm imposing a baking ban on myself, just until this Saturday, which I guess isn't really that long. I have to finish a chapbook by Friday and truthfully I've been using baking as an excuse to avoid finishing it up. Why do I do this? Not because I don't care about writing, but I think because I care about it a great deal and because I've been terrified of writing for some inexplicable reason as of late.

Okay, no more excuses. I can do this.

That being said, I am roasting beets right now. There is no ban on roasting.

Golden Beets, a trilogy

You should know, this is the mileage I got from two beets.  Sam found golden beets at the farmers market last week and was generous enough to share some with me. Thank you Sam!

I've been wanting golden beets ever since Spring rolled around, mostly because I've been wanting to to layer the colors of red and golden beets--I mean, can you think of a more fantastically colored vegetable?  

Here is what I did with Sam's golden beets:

1. Beet, Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion Tart

Ingredients:

1 medium sized golden beet (or half of one enormous one)

1 medium red beet

8 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 yellow onion

1 1/2 tablespoons of butter

1 sheet of puff pastry

3 tablespoons of goat cheese

4 garlic cloves

olive oil

kosher salt

pepper

1) preheat oven to 425

2) in foil pouches, roast the beets with olive oil, slightly smashed garlic cloves, salt and pepper.  make sure to have separate pouches for the red and golden beets so the colors don't bleed

3) roast the beets for about a hour and 15 minutes or until fork tender

4) meanwhile caramelize onions by slicing them lengthwise and slowly sauteing them in the butter (try to move them minimally so that they caramelize and keep the heat low so they do not burn)

5) defrost a puff pastry sheet and cover with the caramelized onions and thyme

6) slice the roasted beets into rounds of equal thickness and layer on top of onions in a pattern

7) top with the garlic cloves that were roasted with the beets

8) crumble goat cheese on tart

9) in a 400 degree oven, bake the tart for twenty minutes

2. Golden Beet, Roasted Garlic, Mandarin Orange Salad

ingredients:

1 cup roasted and sliced beets

5 cloves of roasted garlic

1/4 cup mandarin oranges

a handful of toasted pine nuts

1/2 lemon

5 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

5 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 tablespoon whole grain or dijon mustard

1. roast beets as indicated in the tart recipe and slice in wedges

2. roast garlic in a foil pouch with 1 tablespoon of olive oil for about 45 minutes or golden brown

3. toss the beets, toasted pine nuts, roasted garlic, and mandarin oranges together

4. in a separate bowl, whisk the olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, lemon juice and orange juice together

5. dress the beets and top with mint or cilantro

3. Pickled Golden Beets

ingredients:

1 beet

1 teaspoons whole mustard seed

1 cup white distilled vinegar

1/2 cup honey

two bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon whole cloves

2 garlic cloves

2 sprigs of thyme

1. boil the beet for 45 minutes, peel, and slice in rounds of equal thickness

2. in a saucepan bring the vinegar and honey to a boil

3. process a canning jar by putting in the oven for 10 minutes at 225 degrees

4. put the sliced beets, spices, and thyme in the processed jar

5. pour in the vinegar/honey mixture carefully into the jar. do not overfill

6. immediately close the lid tightly

7. leave for about two weeks before eating