The Flexitarian Cook

Brace yourselves, the Reds are coming! Well, technically, not the Reds, but the purple. Purple, earthy orbs that people typically forgo at the farmer’s market (but not yours truly!). They may look unappealing, but for taste and overall health-appeal, they can’t be beat. What are they?

Burroughs' Bunch

Even though they are easily one of my favorite vegetables, I don’t make them very often. My daughter was remarking the other day that we hadn’t had any in a long time, and encouraged me to get some – just not the sad stuff you get in a can. And so I happily did.

There are a few options when it comes to preparation. Beets can be boiled (not great) or steamed (better). My local farmer’s market serves food on weekends, and they make a very nice grilled heirloom beet salad. I hadn’t really thought of throwing those on the grill, but it really works. Back at home, however, I just resorted to the best (in my mind) technique, which is oven roasting. It’s exceedingly simple and brings out the sweetness in the beets like nothing else.

Place each individual beet on a small sheet of aluminium foil and wrap (not too tightly).

Put all of your wrapped beets (many of mine were quite small, as you can see) in a pan, and place in a preheated F375 oven.

Depending on their size, the beets will be done in 30 min to 1 hr - longer if they're really large. You can tell they're done when a knife goes through them easily.

Now they're ready to peel. The skins will come right off. Make sure you wear gloves if you don't want your hands to turn a lovely shade of purple.

Now that you have all of these lovely cooked beets, what should you do with them? Here’s an idea:

Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese, Walnuts, and Balsamic Reduction

Note: A balsamic reduction is balsamic vinegar that you cook until it thickens (“reduces”). Place about 4 times as much vinegar as you think you will need in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until it reaches the consistency of syrup. Make sure you watch the pan the entire time (it does not take long), as the vinegar will quickly burn if you leave it on for too long. I should know. Anyhow…

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs roasted and peeled beets
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
a few basil leaves
fleur de sel (or sea salt)and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2.5 Tbsp walnut oil (or olive oil)

Whisk together the oil and vinegar with salt to taste. Slice the beets and toss them with the dressing. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Before serving: place the beets on a serving platter. Scatter cheese and walnuts on top, and drizzle a little bit of balsamic reduction all over. Place basil leaves over the salad.

These beets are dressed (and they're delicious).

Tags: balsamic reduction, beets, goat cheese, walnuts

Satchmo? Check. Spare ribs? Check. Sweet tart barbecue sauce? Check. Hot grill? Check. Everything’s in place to create a memorable Saturday feast with some good friends.

Those of you who regularly read this blog know what we have recently been cursed blessed with a large crop of delicious plums, and that I have been hard at work preserving them into jam, ice cream, vodka (that one’s for another post) and plum butter.

I love fruit butters. They are in essence a (not too) sweet fruit compote that is cooked down over a couple of hours to a spreadable consistency. Apple butter is perhaps the best known of them all, but any stone fruit works equally well (apricot butter is one of the great ones). I searched around the web for a recipe that would appeal to me, and I stumbled on Martha Stewart’s; I was attracted by the addition of cinnamon and cardamom, and the results are truly stunning. The plum butter is a delight for both eyes and taste buds. It is wonderful on plain toast, or mixed in with some Greek yogurt, or just by itself straight out of the jar.

Loverly

In addition to being great for breakfast, it also makes the best base for a lightly sweet yet tangy barbecue sauce. The heat of the grill will caramelize the sauce and give it a beautiful color and finish. It smells fantastic and tastes even better. The plum flavor really comes through – no comparison with the plum sauce (hoisin) you can find in stores. Pair it with pork spare ribs, for a better-than-good summer grilling treat. Here’s how:

Spare Ribs With Plum Glaze

For the glaze

1/2 cup plum butter
2 Tbsp tamari sauce
2 Tbsp sherry
dash sherry vinegar
cayenne pepper to taste

Season the ribs with salt and pepper. Precook them on a baking sheet in a 300F oven for about 2 hours, or until the meat starts to fall off the bone. Remove from oven.

Pre-heat your grill to about 450F. Brush the glaze on both sides of the ribs, and place on the grill. Keep basting with glaze, and turn the ribs every 5 minutes or so, taking care not to burn them. When the sauce has lightly caramelized on the meat, remove from heat and serve, with some extra plum sauce on the side.

Serve with some chilled rosé and an assortment of salads.

Yes, it was *that* good.

So good, in fact, that there is none left. *sigh*

Up next: Vodka and plums – na zdrowie!

Tags: barbecue, butter, grill, plum, pork, sauce

…but obviously not because there’s a large spider staring at you from the kitchen counter, although that would probably do the trick as well. I should know. No, this post has nothing to do with arachnids (I can hear a collective sigh of relief) and everything to do with frozen desserts made with fruit.

And not just any kind of fruit, mind you, but the plums that have invaded my kitchen for the past few days, collected as they were from our yard upon our return from vacation. Pounds and pounds of them were turned into jam, and some of them were turned into ice cream (among other things).

Credit for the ice cream recipe goes to David Lebovitz and his book, The Perfect Scoop. I used more plums than he did and omitted the kirsch in the original because I wanted nothing but the fruit to come through, and boy does it ever. It has the sweet-tart flavor of the just picked plum, with so much summer packed into every spoonful you could get a sunburn. It’s so, so very good, it’s really worth going out of your way to make some. Truly one of the best flavors of the year, and one you can only enjoy for a short time. After this batch is gone, I’ll just weep until next year. Or maybe I’ll just get myself to the farmer’s market for some fresh plums, presto.

Plum Ice Cream
adapted from The Perfect Scoop

1.5 lb plums, pitted
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup heavy cream

Cook the plums and sugar over medium-low heat until tender (this could take anywhere from 7 to 15 min., depending on the plums you’re using). Add a little bit of water to the pan if the plums do not render very much juice; be careful not to scorch the fruit. Remove from heat, let cool and process in a blender until smooth.

Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Add cream to the plum puree and mix well. Freeze in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

The mixture goes in...

... and churns away.

With brambleberries and peppermint from our garden

Up next: plum butter and some fancy grillin’.

Tags: ice cream, plum