BEETS & BEET GREENS W/HORSERADISH DRESSING

I don't remember where I found this recipe but it's good and simple. I have a note on the card that it is Greek.


BEETS & BEET GREENS W/HORSERADISH DRESSING

Boil 3 beets until tender.
Cook greens from the beets and drain.
Combine beets and greens.
Mix: 2 t. wine vinegar
2 t. prepared horseradish (or freshly grated roots with extra vinegar)
1/4 t salt
1 small clove garlic - mashed
Mix dressing with the beets.
Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Classic Vishyssoise

On a colder day like today, a nice warm, comforting soup can be amazing.
This is a classic vishyssoise recipe from James Petterson.

4 medium-sized leeks, cleaned, sliced thin
1 # 2 oz medium starchy potatoes, such as Yukon gold, peeled and thinly sliced
4 ½ cups water, milk, or chicken stock.
½ -1 cup heavy cream
Salt & Pepper
Chives

Combine leeks, potatoes with the cooking liquid of your choice, simmer about 25, until vegetables are tender. Puree and add cream. Finish with freshly cut chives.

This is a great base to work from.

A few suggestions for variations:
Turnips and thyme
Beets make nice “hot pink” soup

Spring Vegetable Ragout:

1 T Butter
2 Leeks, well cleaned and sliced 1 inch
6 sm. Turnips, scrubbed and quartered
4-6 spring baby carrots, peeled and Lg. diced
2 Garlic scapes, thinly sliced
1 thyme sprig
1 # pea pods shelled
2 Handfuls of spinach
1 T Basil thinly sliced
Crème fraiche or sour cream
Salt and Pepper

Melt the butter in a lg. pan and add leeks, turnips, thyme, and baby carrots. Simmer 12-15 minutes, until tender. Add peas, garlic scapes and spinach; cook until the spinach is wilted. Add crème fraiche and basil, season with salt and pepper.

This could be served with pasta, as a side, or just on its own. Enjoy.

Curly Endive

Curly Endive: Is a member of Chicorium family. It has a fresh and slightly bitter flavor.

A Few Preparation Ideas:

Curly Endive is best cooked. I like to sauté it with shallots to add a little sweetness, garlic, or even roasted garlic to add another flavor level, and some olive oil and salt. Fresh ground pepper can be lovely as well.

To make a nice bruschetta, you can add arugula, and diced tomatoes to the sauté. Then place the greens on top of a toasted baguette and crumble goat cheese over the top. You can then toast the bruschetta to warm the goat cheese.

Garlic Chives

Just quick cooking idea. Recently we roasted a chicken (yes, one of our own, organically grown broilers - delicious!) and I picked a bunch of garlic chives, chopped them up small, and stuffed the bird with that, just plain chopped chives. It was yummy. Then later I used the cooked chives in other cooking, omelets, seasoning leftover chicken, etc. and that was terrific. A very mild green garlic flavor.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

This is a recipe from Whatchagot Stew by Patrick F. McManus, known for his humorous fishing and hunting tales. Basically it's lemon meringue pie using rhubarb instead of lemons. I like the notion because it sounds tasty, I like rhubarb, and wow, it's a way of having the tang of lemon using a locally grown item.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Mix:
3 c. diced rhubarb
1 1/2 c sugar
3 egg yolks
2 T flour
Cook slowly until thickened, stirring all the time.
Pour into a baked pie shell.
Cover with meringue (and bake until lightly brown.)

Patrick McManus didn't mention toasting the meringue but I figure that must be the way to go.

6/18/09
OKAY, so now I tried this out. It was yummy but it wasn't the way I envisioned it. The custard part was more lumpy yet soft, sort of like the inside of a regular rhubarb pie. I envision something more smooth and almost jelled like lemon curd or raspberry pudding. So next time I think I will cook the rhubarb much longer before adding any thickener and I might try arrowroot instead of egg yolks. The basic concept is a good one though.