Posted on 02/11/2016 4:03:51 PM PST by Jamestown1630
I've always liked canned beets, pickled or plain, and usually in salads; but I've never cooked or eaten fresh beets before. I decided to try a simple roasted beet for my first experiment.
Beets peel better if they're roasted first, so I didn't peel them at the start. Cut off the stem ends, leaving about an inch for a 'handle' (what to do with the greens will be a later project). Also, cut off any long, skinny root, and then wash the beets well - dirt seems to especially collect up near the stem.
Place the cleaned and dried beats in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and kosher salt rubbing both all over the beets, and wrap the beets tightly in aluminum foil. Place the beet packet on a rimmed baking sheet that is also lined with foil - easier cleanup in case the beets 'leak'. Bake in a pre-heated 400-degree oven for one hour, or until a sharp knife pierces them easily.
Let the beets cool, and then remove the skins (do this in a bowl in the sink, to keep pink juice from going all over the place.) You can then slice or quarter, and salt and pepper them; and they are ready for a quick heating at serving time. They have a different, rounder flavor than canned beets, buttery and sweet - just greater 'dimension'.
There's no getting around the fact that beets are a mess to deal with; and I'm not sure I'd do them very often. But I'm not making that decision until I try making a real Borscht (does anyone have a favorite recipe?) and until I try this recipe from McCormick:
http://www.mccormick.com/Gourmet/Recipes/Salads-Sides/Roasted-Balsamic-Beets
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Another recipe I had time to try this past week was Beer Bread. A recipe by Gerald Norman has been going around the Internet for many years, so that's the one I used.
I was surprised at how this came out. I had imagined that it would have a texture like muffins, or any quick bread; but the dough looks like yeast-raised dough as soon as you stir in the beer, and the baked bread has a texture that's sort of a cross between a quick bread and an English Muffin. Even though mine was cooked a little too long, it came out very flavorful with a lovely texture.
The recipe suggests that if you like a softer bread, you should mix the melted butter into the dough, instead of pouring it on top, and I think I would prefer it that way - the outside of the bread basically 'fries' in the melted butter if the butter is poured on top, and this tends to make the outside hard.
I halved the sugar, because I wanted a more savory bread (it seems to me that you could play around with this recipe a lot, with all kinds of savory additions like herbs and cheese); and mine resulted in one that would be great with jam, just butter, or as an appetizer with almost any kind of spread:
http://www.food.com/recipe/beer-bread-73440
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We have become interested in the health benefits of Bone Broth. Last weekend we tried making it for the first time, and now have many containers of rich, gelatinous 'goo' in the freezer, ready for recipes.
I'm going to be experimenting with this and will post about the results, culinary and salutary; but for now, here is a recipe for Cream of Mushroom Soup that I'm going to try this weekend. We found it in the almost encyclopedic book on Bone Broth, 'Nourishing Broth', by Sally Fallon and Kaayla Daniel. (I've seen other FReepers mention Fallon's first book, 'Nourishing Traditions', and am anxious to get a copy of that, as well):
http://www.blogher.com/homemade-cream-mushroom-soup-recipe
-JT
This week, Beets, Beer Bread, and Bone Broth!
(If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking ping-list, please send a private message.)
-JT
what kind of bones did you use for the broth?
For this first try, we used chicken bones and added about a pound and a half of chicken necks.
-JT
I roast beets in foil like you described. Bone broth is a staple on our home-I’ve been making it ever since I got a copy of Nourishing Traditions 10 years ago. I found Nourishing Broths to be a bit more relaxed than NT. Far more do-able recipes, though many in NT are easy enough as well. The meatloaf with gingered carrots is so good!
Did you use only bones or add bones to a whole chicken? Using a whole chicken seems to work best for me. I would love to find a source for chicken bones as picking the meat off is a time consuming task. Sounds pathetic I know, but between homeschooling my six kiddos, getting them to activities and working part time, I need ways to streamline.
Oh sure. Make it seem easy to do!
Bon APPETIT!!
Bless those who feed the masses.
Start with roasted bones. These are the hardest thing to get any more as they are taking the bones out of darn near every piece of beef they can. Sometimes you can talk the butcher into selling them to you. Other times you have to buy the "short ribs" cut is best you want the marrow.
Brown the bones and meat uncovered in the oven.(About an hour at 350 will do it)
De-glaze the roasting pan with vinegar water (I use 1/4 cup unpasteurized apple cider and about two cups of water) Scrape up all the brown bits and pour into a stock pot.
If you want to pick the meat off for something else then let them cool and pick. Throw the bones and anything that is not meat into the stock pot.
Now here is where some planing ahead is needed.
Every time I fix vegetables I keep the scraps. The bottoms of asparagus spears, corn cobs, carrot tops, beet stalks, celery bottoms, leek tops, they have all been put in a bag in the freezer. Also all the liquid that I have drained off canned vegetables has been saved in a gallon jar in the fridge. And all of it goes in the pot.
Now we cook, fill the pot to the top with water and leave it at a simmer. I have a large pot and can turn the stove way down so I leave it on at night.
You cook it for 72 hours minimum, 96 is better.
Keep adding water as the water cooks off. This, by the way will keep the air inside your house moist which is why this is a winter project for me.
In the last you can add in bay leaf, a couple of onions, carrots, celery or whatever suits your fancy.
Now let it cook for 12 hours more.
Now it is time to strain.
The bones should look very strange and may even be a bit crumbly. Toss all of this, it has given it's all. DO NOT give the bones to dogs.
Pour the strained liquid back into the pot to cool and then put in fridge. A disk of fat will form on the top. You can take this off and discard it, use it to make Yorkshire pudding, make candles, what ever floats your boat.
Pour the bone broth into quart sized plastic containers and freeze.
I think you must be the one who first alerted me to Fallon :-)
We had a fat ‘gallina’ from the ethnic store, which we had roasted - my husband doesn’t mind eating ‘old hen’, and I save some of it for Chicken Pie; we used the bones from that, along with the bones from about 10 lbs. of thighs/legs (husband boiled them, vacuum-packed the meat for future use, and saved the bones.) To that, we added the pound or so of necks. We saved the broth from the first cooking of the thighs, added water to it, and threw in all the other bones/necks.
It took the entire weekend. We actually had to put the containers outside, for the fat to form on top and be scraped off (not enough room in the fridge, and it’s very cold here now, so it worked out fine.)
After fat was scraped off (left a little in each container, for flavor) everything went into the freezer.
We’ve been kicking ourselves for not saving every bone-leftover that we’ve pitched :-) In the future, we won’t have to buy chicken specifically for broth - we roast at least a chicken a week, or buy one of the rotisserie chickens at the grocery; and we’ll be saving all those bones. We don’t eat a lot of beef-on-the-bone, but will save and freeze the bones of what we do eat.
I remember the first time, when I was a kid - maybe the only time - that I sucked marrow out of a beef bone. It was shocking and revelatory! and we may start eating more beef, if only to save up bones.
-JT
Yes, we noticed that some of the bones turned almost to powder when we were tonging them out :-)
No, we wouldn’t give the bones to pets; but we’re thinking of giving some of the broth to our finicky cats. Can’t do it this time, because we put onions in the broth (onions are bad for cats) but in the future, we’ll do some without onions, for the kitties. One of our cats seems to occasionally have digestive issues, and this might be helpful.
-JT
Two things about beets, and I love beets. The tops are supposed to be very nutritious and I use them in green smoothies. They have a mild flavor that blends well with fruit.
The other thing is I roasted fresh beets and didn’t know that if you take Nexium or another acid reducer, the beet color passes right through. This scared me to death thinking I was passing serious blood....and it was a Friday night. Thank goodness for the Internet.
It’s VERY easy (bone broth, that is); and it’s apparently very healthy, and that’s why we want to experiment.
(The beer bread is very easy, too.)
-JT
LOL!
I wanted to mention the...um...INTERESTING effect that beets have on about 15% of the population; but I wasn’t sure how to do it delicately :-)
It has never happened to me with canned beets, but it happened with these fresh beets: Beets can turn everything you evacuate *pink*!
It’s called ‘beeturia’, and is generally not considered dangerous, though it can be a sign in some people of poor iron, low stomach acid, and perhaps some other issues. Here’s some info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeturia
-JT
Thanks for that! Some of the recipes I’ve found looked very complicated, but yours looks very doable.
Best,
JT
I wasn’t sure how to bring it up but, if it could save someone the trauma,it would be worth it.
I love beets, but fresh ones are so expensive. I tried growing some last summer and only got teeny ones, but they were wonderful and beautiful roasted with some carrots. Next year I plan on actually preparing the soil, so my root vegetables have a chance.
Bone broth? Never heard of it, but it sounds a lot like the stocks I’ve been making for years ;) I just made some chicken stock from some chicken leg quarters that were cheap - $.29/lb. I love deals like that. I simmered ‘em for 30 min, took the meat off, them threw everything left in the pot and simmered another hour or two, with some leftover veggies. I simmer gently only, never boil. Alton Brown, who if course is never wrong, says that boiling makes the stock cloudy plus tightens up the... whatever the animal part is in the bones... so it doesn’t release as much gelatin.
I strain it, then stick it in the frig overnight, then skim off the solidified fat. If I don’t use the skin or fat, this isn’t necessary.
I put vegetables in a Ziploc bag in the freezer anytime I peel a carrot, trim celery, peel an onion. I just add them to the bag each time, and use some when I make stock. Beware that onion peels make stocks brown. Red onion peels would be an interesting addition too, wouldn’t it?
I made ham stock last week too - same process. I use it in pasta e fagioli and pea soup.
I adore canning stocks! It seems to really enhance the stock flavor and having a shelf stable stock on hand is great.
“Also all the liquid that I have drained off canned vegetables has been saved in a gallon jar in the fridge. “
Great idea!
I think I need a 2nd frig ;)
The funny thing is, the day after I made these beets and took some of them to work for lunch, I was telling folks that I had roasted fresh beets for the first time. A young man in my workplace told me a story from when he was a kid.
His mom had cooked beets, and he liked them...and then, IT happened. He was terrified, until his mom explained to him that it wasn’t a problem.
Well, when my co-worker told me this story, I said, “That’s never happened to me!”
An hour later, I had to pee; and immediately had to recant :-)
I guess I’m lucky that he told me that, before it actually happened. It definitely WOULD have been worrisome!
-JT
Funny! I made two loaves of beer bread yesterday that the kids polished off at dinner tonight. Same recipe as posted. It’s so quick and easy and satisfies that fresh bread desire when I’ve waited too long to make the real thing. Very tasty! Also a good way to clear out old beer in the fridge. We’re not big drinkers so that happens often.
My daughter wants to grow beets this year so she can use it to dye wool. She raises angora rabbits and wants to practice with natural dyes. I can’t wait to see how it turns out! I’ll make her knit me a beet red scarf!
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