Recipes

Polish Borscht (Barszcz) Beet Borscht

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https://www.facebook.com/anetabistro/

Visited Aneta’s Bistro in Ocala recently — best borscht ever! I’d never attempted borscht before, so I was excited to give it a go. I don’t know Aneta’s recipe, but it had a bit of vinegar to it. In recent, years, I’ve gotten addicted to the local specialty oil and vinegar shops where you can sample a wide assortment of flavored oils and vinegars… and hello, there’s a chocolate vinegar– lovely with fruit salads…

This is a beautiful book with large, lush photos throughout.

So I found a recipe for borscht in a lovely picture/recipe book called “from borshch to blinis: Traditional Cooking from Russia and Poland” by Catherine Atkinson, contributing editor, Lesley Chamberlain.

I modified the basic ingredients a little as I’m not wild about celery or parsley, but here is the original list of ingredients, to which I would add chocolate vinegar. (2 teaspoons) I did have celery salt on hand, (weird I like that more than celery, suspect it’s a remnant from my mother’s Bloody Mary days…) so I added celery salt.

I followed the instructions and the result was tasty but not quite right. Now, I did have more than 2 pounds of beets, I’m sure. For lunch the next day, I poured the leftovers into a blender until it was smooth. This did the trick! The flavors were blended nicely. It was so good, I didn’t even heat it up, it was lovely chilled!

Fun with Chocolate and It’s Sort of Healthy Too!

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My favorite new thing:

Sorry the glare hides the Boar’s Head logo, but I bet other companies have it now too.
It’s pretty fine over a sweet potato… this was my dash-out-the-door lunch yesterday.

I like hummus anyway, but THIS is the bomb, chocolate lovers! And dark chocolate has antioxidants, they say, right? I LOVE sweet potatoes, and this is a pretty nifty combo! The hummus is a bit pricey, so that limits the options somewhat, like I’m sure it’d be great swirled into a sweet potato pie and I might experiment with that.

Ooh… I tried a bacon, chocolate hummus and peanut butter sandwich today… was in a rush, didn’t get a photo, but that was mighty tasty too… kind of an Elvis sandwich — I just needed the ‘naner’s. {Elvis was fond of peanut butter and banana}.

Cauliflower, Carrot and Butternut Squash Soup

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butternut squash cartonSo you picked up a container of butternut squash soup, but that seems kind of boring… want to zip it up?

carrots

cauliflower

chili oil

garam masala* or Balti seasoning**

Break up cauliflower into small bits and chop carrots into bite size bits. Put in dish with olive oil on bottom, drizzle chili oil on top (how much depends on your heat tolerance.) Roast at 400 for 40 minutes or so. If you like smooth soup, use mixer or hand held gizmo to blend. If you like texture, don’t puree. 

Pour butternut squash into sauce pan on low heat. Add veggie blend.

Next, let’s add some kick. A simple curry will do, or, if you are a spice junky like I am, you can go with garam masala* or even Balti curry seasoning**.  Add 2 heaping teaspoons (or more) of either your choice of the above to taste.

Simmer for a couple of minutes to get the spices well blended into the soup. Enjoy!

The chili oil will add heat, the seasoning will add complexity… 

*garam masala — you can find this already made in stores that carry bulk spices. It is a combo of :

Black and white peppercorns.
Cloves.
Cinnamon or cassia bark.
Mace (part of nutmeg)
Black and green cardamom pods.
Bay leaf.
Cumin.
Coriander

 

**Balti seasoning  — this may be a bit harder to find. Penzey’s carries it and most Indian food stores should have it. If you want to make your own, there’s a link below for the recipe. 

https://www.thespruceeats.com/quick-balti-curry-spice-mix-recipe-434889

 

 

Butternut Squash Glazed Tart

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Growing up, my mother did not have much of a relationship with squashes– I’d graduated from college before I ever tasted a butternut squash. I recently discovered this recipe, and while I shy away from anything to do with pastry-making, if you, like me, are intimidated with making your own pastry dough, you can cheat and use the packaged dough… This recipe is FANTASTIC –thanks to Grace Parisi at Food & Wine for sharing this! The tart can be used as a sweet side, dessert, or breakfast pastry, served warm or cold. The apricot, cream cheese and butternut flavors with a bit of cinnamon and/or clove, maybe even an Indian curry flavor… wow. 

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/butternut-squash-glazed-tart

Fennel and Fig with Jerusalem Artichoke Angel Hair

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Some of my guests have requested paleo meals. I spotted a recipe in the  Idiot’s Guide: Paleo Slow Cooking by Molly Pearl (see link below) that sounded interesting and gave it a whirl… I didn’t have bay leaves or shallots, so I used fresh chives, and also added some dried lemon flakes just because I had them and thought it would be interesting. I added the cinnamon a bit late… my tastebuds aren’t very strong, so I’d go more heavy-handed… might also add some cardamom.  If you really hate the taste of anise or licorice, you probably won’t like to cook with fennel… but I thought the combination was subtle and delicious over Jerusalem artichoke angel hair.

https://books.google.com/books?id=RomhBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA60&lpg=PA60&dq=braised+fennel+and+fig+%2B+molly+pearl&source=bl&ots=trAzgVgwId&sig=KFEpUI6OoLRFgUL0MPP39BYLl6A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiz2KDE-IrbAhURzFMKHf9nCWMQ6AEILDAB#v=onepage&q=braised%20fennel%20and%20fig%20%2B%20molly%20pearl&f=false

Pumpkin Coconut Banana Smoothie

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I’ve been wanting to try this recipe–so perfect for fall, but really, I love pumpkin so why shouldn’t we use pumpkin year round?  Tried this today– it’s delicious.  I keep my coconut flakes in the fridge, so they were a nice crunchy element– your choice — like smoothies super smooth, then don’t add the coconut flakes .  It still wanted a little sweetness, so I added a drizzle of maple syrup on top.

NOTE: This did fill up the blender. You might do half at a time.

Urliss and Hollis’s Chicken In a Biskit “Redneck Corn and Broccoli Casserole”

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Chicken In a Biskit is a Nabisco product, and thusly trademarked.

Not long ago, I went over to Hollis’s to borrow a post hole digger because mine was cheap to start with, the handles were wobbly and the grabbing cups grabbed nothing. When I arrived, he and Urliss were just tucking in to Sunday supper, and insisted that I get a plate and join them. Luckily, they weren’t dishing up one of their this-might-be-rescued-roadkill meals. Urliss offered me first choice from the Publix fried chicken carrier, and pushed a tub of potato salad toward me. Hollis passed the casserole dish, and said, “Have some redneck broccoli casserole.”
It was surprisingly tasty. I mentioned that I was adding recipes to my blog, and they said, “You can add our recipe, if y’unt to.” Urliss scribbled it out on a napkin. I rewrote it so you stand a chance of reading it:  
**Note: If you can’t find Nabisco Chicken In a Biskit crackers, you can substitute your favorite. Just be sure to pick something not-too-dry, if you know what I mean… something buttery to readily soak up the veggie juice. 

Letisha’s Brussel Sprouts

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Letitia “Le-tish-ia”  is a character from The Vicar of Dibley, a terrific BBC show from the 90’s. She’s an old biddy who loves to create new recipes, usually with disastrous results, like parsnip brownies or chocolate cake with kale… anyway, when I cook, it’s with Letitia creativity, but much better results!! I call this a Letitia recipe, but it’s all good!

This recipe calls for bacon, but you can easily leave it out for a vegetarian version.

 

Sweet Potato and Prunes and Tangerines Tagine Recipe

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There are variations of this recipe out there on the internet. This one is vegetarian, but you could easily add chicken, lamb or whatever.
I LOVE prunes, and love sweet potatoes, I decided to try it, although I couldn’t quite imagine the olives, oranges and prunes blending well. Never fried a tangerine before. That was new.

The recipe is traditionally cooked in a tagine, a Morrocan dish shaped like this:  not having one, I used a stew pot, and perhaps it lost something in translation, I don’t know, but it was still amazing. I’ve also never started a soup or stew with an orange peel, and assumed it would have to be fished back out with the cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Nope. The peel mushed into a soft and flavorful little bit of yummy-ness. Next time, I’ll add more and break it up into bite size pieces. I can’t wait to make chicken soup and put lemon peel at the bottom of the pot. Following then, is the recipe from the magazine. As it is chock full of flavors, it is very forgiving and allowing of omissions or substitutions. If you hate prunes, skip ‘em, but they do add just a little something. I chopped mine into julienne-style slivers. I forgot the parsnips, and the walnuts, later added pecans because we had them, and gave up on the pickled lemon. I used 2 large potatoes plus a small one. Added lots of cilantro because I love it. Do what you want. It’ll be amazing.

 

ingredients for first part:

 

(that’s the first part, wait, there’s more)

Generous sprinkle of Herbal salt:
And lastly, rice, noodles, cous-cous–something to serve it over.

The recipe says 4 servings, but serving over rice or something, we got 6 out of it. We tried it with a rice/orzo, jasmine rice and mung bean noodles. All worked nicely.

Heat 2 tbsps olive oil and 25g butter in pot/tajine. Add ½ peeled and chopped celeriac [or Brussel sprouts], 2 coursely chopped onions, 2 parsnips and 2 cloves of garlic (peeled and chopped.) Cover, fry gently for 15 minutes, stirring regularly.

Add 1 tsp ginger powder, 1 cinnamon stick, 5 cardamom pods [or 1tsp ground], pinch of saffron threads, and 1 tsp turmeric. Saute for a few minutes.

Finely chop the skin of 1 pickled lemon [or add dried lemon peel] with piece of tangerine skin, 3 bay leaves, 2 sweet potatoes (peeled and cubed), 3 prunes (chopped), drained can of chickpeas, and 1L vegetable stock. Bring everything to a boil, the turn down heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes.
While this is simmering, prepare tangerines/clementines (see below)
Sprinkle 50g walnuts, 2 tbsps chopped parsley or cilantro, 3 sprigs of thyme, 75g black olives. Simmer for 5 minutes.

In a separate pan, saute the peeled tangerines/clementines in 2 tbsp olive oil until they brown a little. You can leave the fruit whole, or break it into halves or segments. Sprinkle herbal salt, blend. Put on top of stewed vegetables. Serve over cous-cous, rice, or rice noodles.

 

Put all ingredients onto baking paper on baking sheet, roast in oven 30 minutes. Grind ingredients with mortar and pestle into course powder. Store in closed jar.