Divine Dining Redux #1 - Roasted Beet Salad with Basil Oil

As promised I will be posting details of the dishes I prepared for a five course dinner last weekend. So, let's start with the first course, shall we? Inspired by a classic caprese salad I created a roasted beet salad with fresh chèvre, balsamic vinegar and basil oil. I was dying to use some of the plethora of beets I have maturing in my garden right now. This turned out better than I anticipated.

The beet preparation could not be simpler. I love roasted beets and they are so easy to do. I just take them from the garden, trim the roots and stalks, and tightly wrap them individually in foil. No need to skin them. They were placed on a sheet and roasted in a 425 °F oven for about an hour. Once cooled the skins will slip right off. I used three kinds of beets. One is a yellow beet called 'Touchstone Gold'. I also have a 'Chiogga' beet which has red and white stripes inside. These two beets are tasy and the colors hardly bleed. Unlike the purple beet, 'Red Ace', which will stain anything it touches. Personally I like the sweetness of the yellow beets the best but the purple ones have the most classic beet flavor. On top of the beets was placed some fresh goat cheese. A bit of balsamic vinegar was poured in the middle and the plate was garnished basil oil.

Basil oil is so easy to make. I took about a half cup of tightly packed basil leaves and 1 cup of good olive oil in a food processer and processed it briefly to chop up the basil. This was placed in a pan and heated for about 5 minute to infuse the oil with the flavor. Careful not to cook it. I heated it until the traces of water started sizzling and bubbling.

The oil was poured through a strainer and cooled. The result is a deep green colored oil with tons of basil flavor.

Next up - linguini carbonara. Stay tuned.

Divine Dining

This past weekend I made dinner for some dear friends of ours. Over the next week I will be posting more details on these dishes but I wanted to share with all of you what I came up with.

First of all let me share the table setting. Nothing too fancy but I did pull out the TJ Max plates that I posted recently for a Sunday Chicken Dinner.

The evening started with some cheese and crackers. On the plate is some gruyère and some aged gouda cheese along with some fresh grapes and dried apricots. This plate, by the way, was made by Bismarck artist Susan Davy. She makes fantastic artistic pottery. The glaze contains flax ash from North Dakota farms that provides for the wonderful amber colors.

I was thinking about a caprese salad for a first course but my tomatoes are terribly behind this year and the quality just wasn't there. On the other hand I have a bumper crop of beets. So, inspired by a caprese salad I made a roasted beet version. Here we have three kinds of beets - chioga (red and white striped), yellow and purple beets. Fresh goat chese was placed on top and the plate was garnished with some balsamic vinegar and basil infused olive oil.

The second course was a classic linguini carbonara with pancetta. It turned out better than I imagined and was a hit of the evening.

My wife made homemade whole wheat rolls. The recipe was from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Bread Bible. The dough was fermented for two days and the rolls came out light and soft.

The third course was a fresh, creamy traditional Spanish gazpacho. The recipe came from David Rosengarten who recently shared it on Lynne Rossetto Kasper's radio show, The Splendid Table.

The main course consisted of herb infused meatballs. I used fresh sage and fresh thyme in these. They are made from a mixture of beef and pork. The meatballs were served on top of garlic mashed pototoes and rutabagas. A creamy mushroom sauce complimented the dish.

Finally - DESSERT! On a cooking/gardening forum I participate in there was a wonderful recipe from BlueMoon for a Lavendar Blueberry ice cream. This is a fantastic recipe which I'll share with you soon.

Come back for more details on these dishes coming soon.

Oven Pot Roast

It has been a long time since I've had pot roast. Meat so tender it falls apart in shreds. Hearty, comforting root vegetables glistening with pot juices. Aromas of thyme and winter savory wafting from the bowl. And the best part about pot roast - LEFTOVERS. A perfect meal on a cool fall day.

I started with a 2.8 pound arm roast. This one was nicely marbled with fat which is so important for a tender and juicy end product as it slowly cooks.

I seasoned the roast liberally with some salt, pepper and yellow prepared mustard. You don't really taste the mustard in the end but it does add another dimension to the flavor that would be lacking, I think.

The roast was first seared in a hot heavy pot with a bit of olive oil for about 5 minutes on a side. This also creates another layer of flavor with the caramelized brown bits flavoring the whole dish.

Some of the other ingredients for this pot roast are shown below. I made a bed of onions, garlic and fresh herbs (thyme, winter savory and sage). A bit of red wine was used to provide moisture and flavor. I like a fruity zinfandel.

I placed the onoins, herbs and half the garlic on the bottom of the pan under and placed the seared meat on top. Additional garlic and yellow mustard were sprinkled on top and then about 1/2 cup of red wine was added. The pot was covered and placed in a 250 degree F oven for its long slow cooking. I left it alone for three hours.

After three hours a couple of cups each of carrots and rutabagas were cut into large chunks and added to the pot. The temperature was raised to 275 °F and it was allowed to cook covered for another hour and a half until the vegetables were thoroughly softened.

You can see the end product at the top. Notice how much moisture is in the pot. This comes from the onions and the meat mostly. It is a delicious broth flavored with the meat, herbs and subtly by the mustard.

Pesto Pizza

Nothing says summer yum like a pesto pizza with fresh tomatoes. I used the same pizza dough recipe that I've blogged about recently. Instead of a tomato sauce I used freshly prepared pesto (all basil this time without the spinach). This was slathered on the dough and topped with mozzarella and fresh tomato slices. It was very satisfying.

From the Garden

I haven't really posted much about the food I grow. I do have a pretty good-sized garden where I grow herbs and vegetables. This season has been quite slow for the warm weather crops but the cool loving veggies have been doing great. I'll have an overabundance of beets this year, that's for sure. Today I managed to find a few tomatoes finally getting ripe. Some of the very slow growing sweet corn is producing an ear or two. I also yanked out a few small rutabagas and some fresh thyme and sage to throw into a pot roast tonight (blog post coming soon).

Sushi and more

I was in the mood for Japanese cuisine and it's been a while since I've made sushi rolls. They really are not that hard to make and you can put whatever you want inside. These are stuffed with crab, avocado, carrots and cucmbers.

Of course the most important aspect of sushi is the rice. Unfortunately I didn't have a great sushi rice on hand but at least I had a sticky shorter grain rice. Actually it was too sticky and became a bit gelatinous, but it was ok. Sushi rice preparation is something that is almost an art in Japan. Right out of the steamer, while still hot, the rice is seasoned with rice vinegar usually sweetened with some sugar. The rice is traditionally cooled by fanning by hand. I like to lay out a thin layer of rice about 3/4 of the way up a sheet of nori. It helps of you wet your hands with some water to prevent the rice from sticking.

Simply lay your ingredients in the middle of the rice. Here are the cucumbers and carrots.

Next, the avocado and crab.

Real sushi chefs can roll these by hand without the aid of a rolling mat, but mine turn out best if I use a mat. The idea is to roll the sushi pulling it in tight to make a firm roll. The edge is sealed by wetting with a little bit of water.

Here is the roll all ready to be sliced.

You can slice them however thick you want them. I like a pretty good mouthful myself.

Along with the sushi I made an Asian-inspired soup. I started with a stock pot filled with kombu (seaweed), dried shitake mushrooms, garlic and ginger. This was simmered for about an hour until the mushrooms and seaweed were tender and the broth was flavored.

The broth was strained and flavored with some soy sauce, clam dashi powder, a splash of mirin and a dash of sesame oil.

The mushrooms and seaweed were sliced finely and placed back in the soup.

Served with soy sauce and wasabi, the sushi was really tasty. The soup was very satisfying with a full robust flavor yet lightness that went well with the delicate flavors of the sushi.

Sunday Chicken

I've been traveling quite a bit lately. I plan to share with you all food from my camping trip through Yellowstone and the Black Hills but I am still trying to organize all my photos. Stay tuned for that. But I did want to update my blog to let you all know I am still here and still cooking. Let me share with you last night's chicken dinner.

Simply roasted chicken is just such a delight for a hearty fulfilling Sunday meal. This chicken was stuffed with fresh sage, thyme and winter savory. It was brushed with butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Underneath is a bed of potatoes and onions seasoned with the same herbs. I like to roast my chicken at a high heat at first. First, the chicken was placed breast down and roasted for 20 minutes at 500 °F. It was flipped over and roasted for another 15 minutes at that high temperature then I turned the oven down to about 375 to finish roasting. I cook it just until the thickest part of the thigh hits 160 °F. Then I take it out, cover it with foil and let it rest for at least 10 minutes before cutting. This allows the juices to set back in the meat and it will finish cooking.

I just found some new plates at TJ Max that I thought were perfect for serving this Sunday chicken on. They were only $4. Quite a deal if you ask me. The interesting white plate was on clearance for $5. I love the four individual serving wells on this one.

Actually this plate inspired me to prepare four salads to go along with the meal. One was super easy. I simply sliced up some fresh kohlrabi from the garden. Nothing else was added to that one. I love the fresh crunch of kohlrabi. I'm a big fan of broccoli stalks and I think this vegetable tastes just like it.

I had some roasted beets in the fridge from a few days ago so I made a beet salad with a pinch of brown sugar, rice vinegar and walnuts. Sweet and salty complimented the beets well.

I also had some fresh green beans in the garden. I quickly flash steamed them just for a minute to set the color but at the same time they were still crunchy. After chilling in ice water and drying they were mixed with slivered garlic, fresh oregano, dijon mustard, rice vinegar and salt and pepper.

What to do with zucchini? I made very thin shaved slices and wilted them by salting the zucchini and letting them drain. After rinsing and drying they were mixed with fresh basil, fresh tomato, fresh chopped garlic and olive oil. Refreshing and delicious. I really like the texture of the zucchini in this. The wilting gives it a slight 'cooked' texture and softens it but it still retains a lot of the flavor, only enhanced, of the raw zucchini.

Nothing fancy here in terms of plating. I cut off the wings, breast and leg quarters and just slapped them on a plate.

The potatoes and onions were flavored by all the chicken drippings. The flavor was unbelievable.

Summertime Pesto

Nothing says summer like fresh basil in the garden. My basil is just starting to come to fruition and I should have a LOT of it very soon. Of course the best thing for basil is fresh pesto. I love it on simple pasta with nothing else. Tonight I was looking for a quick meal and penne with pesto was just the thing to satisfy me. I threw in some fresh spinach too. I don't usually do this but tonight I wanted a more hearty green pesto full of nutritious greens. My only problem this evening is that I ran out of parmigiano reggiano. I know - sacrilege! But it happened. The pesto was good but it just wasn't quite right without it. For this pesto I used a couple heaping handfuls of fresh picked basil, a handful of fresh baby spinach leaves, 3 cloves of garlic, the juice of half a lemon, a half cup of walnuts (pine nuts are also traditionally used), salt, pepper, and olive oil - maybe 3 tablespoons. I threw it all in the blender except for the olive oil which was drizzled in until the consistency was just right. This was simply poured over the hot cooked pasta and it was mixed up and enjoyed! Ah, Pesto!

Eating Local - Beef

Of course I love to cook (hence the blog) and I love exotic ingredients from around the world. But our family also tries to support local food producers as much as we possibly can. That means getting locally grown produce from our CSA and from the area farmer's markets. We also buy our beef one cow at a time. Well, we usually split a whole cow purchase with a friend so we get half a cow at a time. This is usually about 300 pounds of meat after processing.

A half a cow will usually last our family about a year and a half. We don't eat beef every day. We were getting our beef from a North Dakota farmer in the past but this year we bought from Evavold's Oak Grove Farm across the river in Battle Lake, Minnesota. The cows are pasture raised and spend most of their life grazing on grass. During the winter months they are fed corn silage. They are natural without added hormones or unnatural supplements. We think this is the best of both worlds. Grass fed beef produces meat with a higher amount of omega-3 fatty acids but sometimes leads to leaner, less flavorful meat. On the other hand, cows that are fed a grain based diet have great tasting meat but almost no healthy omega-3 fats. The combination of feeding at Evavold's should provide just the right balance of healthy and good tasting meat.

The cows are humanely slaughtered and hung for two weeks before being processed at J & B Meats in Barnseville, MN. Another reason we like to buy local beef a cow at a time is because the meat is processed from a single cow and not mixed with hundreds of other animals in a large processing facility. I believe this tremendously reduces the risk of salmonella or other nasty bacteria contaminating the final product. I feel better about cooking my burgers medium rare when it is from a single cow. All the meat is vacuum packed and frozen so it stays fresh and tasty for a very long time.

Our recent half cow purchase gave us many different cuts of meat including ribeye steaks, T-bones, all kinds of roasts, about 80 pounds of ground beef, and various other cuts. I even requested the oxtails which usually don't come with the cow and are nearly impossible to find in our local stores. The best part about all of this? It only cost us about $2.60 per pound for a product that is exponentially better than you can get in the grocery store. They even drove it up and delivered it to our house for free.

Community Supported Agriculture

We got our first CSA box last week. We went with the Lakes and Valley CSA this year and so far they have been great. If you are not involved in a CSA, you should be. It's a wonderful idea and a great way to support local growers. CSA, or community supported agriculture farms are popping up all over the country. The idea is that you buy into a share of a farm for the whole season. Every week the CSA we belong to delivers a half bushel box of whatever is being harvested in the garden at the time. This season has been very cold and wet so our local farm is a bit behind the seaons. Usually we get our first spring greens in early June. But it was worth the wait. Our box was brimming with fresh lettuces, arugla, spinach, asian greens, and a few radishes. New to us this year is farm fresh eggs! We were delighted to find a farm with free range chickens.


Our first CSA dinner was, of course, a salad. Mixed grees, tomatoes, garbanzo beans, red peppers, blue cheese, topped with a fried free range egg and crispy bacon. A dijon balsamic dressing was just the right combination for this satisfying salad.