Meatless Monday: Savoring the Sugar Sink

All summer long root vegetables stockpiled carbohydrates, turning their tubers and taproots into sugar sinks. If left in the ground, these roots become sugar sources in spring, providing energy for the growing shoot tips of the plant’s second year.

The autumn days are shorter. Soon the ground will freeze. The roots are at their maximum size and sweetness. For most of these underground treasuries, it's harvest time. 

In farmer’s markets and in the produce aisle bins overflow with potatoes and carrots, parsnips and turnips, celeriac and rutabagas, and beets of many colors.

While it is true that all root vegetables have significant numbers of carbohydrates, some have more than others. They are all low in sodium, high in fiber, and rich in vitamins and minerals. Dr. Andrew Weil writes about the many health benefits of root vegetables and how to prepare them here.

I cooked many root vegetables over the weekend, including my favorite — golden beets. About beets Dr. Weil has this to say: “Beets derive their hue from pigments called betalains, which range in color from red-violet to yellow. Betalains, in addition to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, trigger a family of enzymes that binds toxic substances in cells, neutralizing and allowing them to be excreted from the body.” Pretty cool, don't you think?

Golden beets are more delicate (less earthy) than the more familiar red beets. Here is how I prepared mine:

• Preheat the oven to 425°F.
• Remove all but the top two or three inches of the beet greens.
• Scrub the beets well.
• Dry them with a paper towel.
• Toss them in a bowl with some good quality olive oil and a bit of salt.
• Put them in a cast iron skillet or a roasting pan and bake until fork tender.
• Let them cool.
• Remove the skin.
• Cut the beets into 1/4” cubes.

They may not look like much here.

While the beets are cooling, prepare a marinade: 

• Whisk together: 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil,1 teaspoon of orange juice, 3 teaspoons of good white wine vinegar, salt, freshly ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano.
• Taste and adjust the seasonings.
• Add the marinade to the beets.
• Refrigerate in a covered dish overnight.
• Serve cold or slightly warmed as a side or a salad topping.

But what do you think now?

Come back next week to see how I enjoyed mine.

Happy Monday! 

Have a great week. Eat well. 

I often blog on food, food issues, or gardening on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: Vegetarian Menu Ideas

Thanksgiving Day is almost here. 

In honor of the occasion I have compiled a list of links for some posts from the past which I hope may inspire and entertain you, and perhaps provide a welcome last-minute recipe.

First are links to a variety of Thanksgiving dishes that are vegetarian friendly:

• Acorn Squash Casserole 
• Butternut Squash with Wilted Spinach and Blue Cheese 
• Celeriac 
• Golden Beets 
• Kale Stew
• Kohlrabi
• Pumpkin Cornbread
• Vegan Gravy

Second are these on food history relevant to the day.

• Celebrating the Cranberry 
• The Challenges of an Indigenous Feast 
• The History of Pumpkin Pie 

Happy Monday! Happy Thanksgiving. And thanks for reading.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: Market Find of the Week

Summer is almost here. We have been blessed with an abundance of rain followed by some glorious sunny days. Local produce is filling the tables at New Haven’s CitySeed, and this popular market is brimming with new foods waiting to be discovered. It’s the perfect time to bring back Market Find of the Week.

This season’s first item? The Chioggia Beet, an early beet with a surprise inside. Just slice a Chioggia open, and you will reveal a beautiful candy-striped pattern. This beet, also known as Early Flat Balsamo, has been sold at Connecticut’s Comstock, Ferre & Co. since the 1850s. 

The Chioggias are striped. Aren't they pretty?

The UC Davis Good Life Garden blog provides a wealth of information on this heirloom vegetable. The roots of these beets lie in the Italian seacoast town of Chioggia; they most likely brought to the US by immigrants in the mid 19th-century. They are very sweet. But if you do not like earthy beets, Chioggias are not the beets for you. They contain a higher concentration of geosmin, the organic compound which gives beets their earthy taste and smell. You would be better off trying the milder Golden Beets. 

As with any kind of beets, there is a plethora of ways to enjoy them, and several ways to cook them. Beets are so small and tender right now that you can even grate them and eat them raw.

The vendor suggested sautéing them in butter. I Googled and found several variations on that simple theme. What did I do? I peeled them, sliced them thin, melted some butter, added some dried thyme, and sautéed the slices until they were tender. The beets were organic and their leaves in great shape, so I washed the greens well, chopped them roughly, and added them to the tender beet slices. I covered the pan, turned the heat down, and cooked the beets and greens gently until the greens were nicely wilted. I then mixed in some crumbled goat cheese. With a side of hearty rye bread from New Haven’s Whole G Bakery, this was a perfect light supper.

Beets. It's what's for dinner.
The stripes are more subtle once cooked.

The only thing I might do differently next time is to boil the beets gently until tender, pop off their skins instead of peeling them when raw, and then slice and sauté them. Peeling a bunch of such tiny beets was a bit of a chore and a little wasteful.

However you prepare them, enjoy your beets. And get to the market early. Chioggias have become very popular. There were just a few mixed into the bunch I bought on Saturday. And just one hour into the market, this was the very last bunch for sale!

Please come back soon for more food facts or my latest produce discovery. Thanks for reading.

I often blog on food, food issues, or topics related to growing things on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: Golden Beet Love

California golden beets (right) next to their red cousins 

When I first saw golden beets at the Mountain View Farmers Market in February 2008, I did not know what they were. But once I had the chance to try them, it was love at first bite. Now I find myself craving them, and planning meals around them. Golden beets are not as easy to find as the earthier red ones, but this time of year you can pick them up at the local farmers market, or farm stand, or even at Whole Foods.

Golden beets do not bleed when you cook them. They do not stain your sink or your fingers. Like their red relatives, they are vitamin and mineral packed. (Beets are listed as one of the 11 best foods we are not eating.) When cooked they have a beautiful blush and a milder, more subtle taste, but they are still flavorful. Properly prepared, golden beets should turn anyone into a beet lover.

Gardeners among you can find the seeds at a couple of places. At Burpee’s the description reads: "Heirloom. A color breakthrough when we introduced this savory golden beet in the 1940's, it won over gardeners who wanted a beet with a sweeter, milder flavor, and others who just loved the inviting gold color. Globes reach 2 inches across. 55 days to maturity." Since the 1940’s? How come I am just hearing about them 70 years later? Yet another case of better late than never.

On our recent trip West I so enjoyed a golden beet and goat cheese salad at the University Café in Palo Alto that I decided to try to recreate the recipe at home.

I bought a nice looking bunch of golden beets, brought them home, and cut off the greens about 2” from the top. (Normally I would have steamed the greens, which are even more rich in nutrients, but nice as the beets were, these greens were not in very good shape.) I scrubbed them and then dried them well. I took out a trusty cast iron skillet just large enough to hold them all, and placed the beets gently into it. Then I drizzled them with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled them with sea salt and roasted them in a 400° oven, uncovered, rolling the beets around a couple of times, until they became tender. These were fairly good-sized so it took around 45 minutes. Some cooks advise steaming the beets under a cover of aluminum foil, but I find they have more flavor with this method (uncovered), and the roasting imparts such a nice smell to the kitchen.

When the beets were fork tender, I removed them from the pan and let them cool until I could gently pop them out of their skins using my fingers (about 15 minutes; I am a wimp).

While they were cooling, I mixed up a dressing. I thought it best if I lightened up the typical vinaigrette that I use on the hearty red ones. So I substituted white vinegar for the red, and also added a bit of orange juice. These proportions worked well for me — 4 tablespoons of my best California cold pressed extra virgin olive oil to 1 teaspoon of orange juice and 3 teaspoons of good white wine vinegar. I also added a bit of salt, some freshly ground black pepper, and a teaspoon of dried oregano. Start with the olive oil and orange juice and then taste away as you add the vinegar. You might like a more or less tart flavor.

I created a nice bed of mixed greens and a few red onion rings in two salad bowls, sliced the warm beets, divided them between the two salads, and then added one ounce of goat cheese to the top of each. The cheese melted into a creamy pool of deliciousness upon contact with the warm beets. I finished the salads by drizzling the dressing over each.

The dish came out remarkably close to the flavor of the salad I had so savored in Palo Alto. My husband gave it a 10! Once the beets are roasted, the recipe is a snap. Do give this a try while beets are in season.
  

When you are done, don’t deep six your cast iron pan. In many parts of the country it’s cool enough to bake again. You know how much I love my cast iron pans, and I will be posting more recipes for them in the next few weeks. And at least one of them involves chocolate.

PS I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal  health and the health of our planet.”