Caramelized Fennel and Walnut Chevre Crepes with Fennel Beet Slaw

When I was in highschool, I remember being in French class, and making crepes.  We filled them with sweet things like jam, whipped cream and chocolate, and they were delicious.  They are simple to make, and I love the fact that they can be filled with whatever you wish!  Sadly as an adult I think I have made crepes only about 4 times.  I decided that tonight they would be on my menu because it had been far too long.  These crepes however were not to be filled with sweet things, but savory.  I had a couple of beautiful fennel bulbs in my fridge, and decided they would be perfect to showcase in the crepes. 

 

For the filling I caramelized them along with some shallots, and added a bit of fresh rosemary, garlic, and lemon, as well as some toasted walnuts and chevre for protein and a bit of richness.  The filling was delicious, and was even more so when wrapped in the eggy delicate crepes!  It had everything, smooth chevre, crunchy walnuts, caramelly fennel!  I decided to throw together a fennel beet slaw to go with it as well, not being one to skimp on the veggies at any meal, and it provided a nice acidity to balance out the rich savory crepes.   It all came together in less than an hour, but if I were only eating it and not preparing it I would have expected that it took much longer.  I felt like I was enjoying something from an upscale restaurant without leaving my home.  I think it is always more satisfying to enjoy delicious food when you have prepared it yourself!  Here is the recipe if you would like to try it!

Caramelized Fennel, Walnut, and Chevre Crepes with Fennel Beet Slaw

Serves 3

Crepes:
3 large organic eggs
1 cup goat milk
1 Tbsp melted Earth Balance butter, or organic butter
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
Additional Earth balance for cooking crepes

Filling:
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 large fennel bulbs, sliced

2 large shallots, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, minced

2 tsp lemon zest

juice of one lemon

8 oz chevre

1 cup toasted walnuts

sea salt

freshly ground pepper

Slaw:

1 large fennel bulb, thinly shaved
1 cooked beet, diced very small
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp riesling vinegar

1 tsp honey

sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

To make crepes, buzz together all ingredients in a food processor (or whisk), cover and set aside in the fridge for an hour.  When ready to make crepes, re-whisk batter, and it should be about the consistency of heavy cream (if not, thin with a little milk).  Heat crepe pan, or medium non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Wipe pan with Earth balance to grease, and pour about 2 1/2 Tbsp batter into the pan.  Swirl to create a thin crepe, and let cook for about 1 minute, and flip crepe over to cook other side.  Place finished crepes on a plate, separating with parchment while you cook the remaining crepes (you should have 9).  When crepes have finished cooking, wipe out pan (if saute pan) and add 1 Tbsp olive oil, fennel, shallots, and saute until starting to caramelize about 8 minutes.  Add garlic, fresh rosemary, and saute another minute until fragrant.  Add lemon juice, zest, chevre and walnuts, and continue to cook until chevre melts and coats filling.  Add sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste, and set aside.  To make slaw, combine all ingredients in a bowl, and toss to coat.  To plate, fill each crepe with about 2 heaping Tbsp filling in the bottom left corner.  Fold in half, then again to form a triangle.  Place on plate, and repeat with another so you have 3 on each plate.  Repeat with remaining crepes, and spoon a bit of slaw onto each plate. 

Spring Beet and Potato Salad

Potato salad is something that people start craving this time of the year.  My Grandma always made it for our family when I was young, and it was always the same, bright yellow, topped with the hardboiled eggs, and red paprika!  It was tasty, but full of mayonnaise in large amounts of course, so not the most healthy.  We make a similar version at the deli I work in, and we always top it with hardboiled eggs as well...one of my cowoerkers Gabrielle lovingly refers to it as the "many eyed beast", and the customers love it!  I have to admit I do love classic potato salad, there is a comforting element to it.  But what I don't love is the unhealthy dressing that comes with it.  So the other day when I was enjoying some Greek yogurt and its creaminess, I thought it would be perfect for a healthy potato salad dressing!  So I created my own potato salad featuring spring ingredients.  Beets, ramps, and radishes were a must!  Maybe Grandma would have thought my shocking pink potato salad odd looking, but it was damn delicious!  It was the perfect meal, filling but light with a tangy dressing just as good as the classic, but kind to the waistline.  I loved the beets in there, they give it a nice sweetness that you don't get from just potatoes.  I think if my Grandma tasted it she would approve of course!  Here is the recipe if you would wish to try it! 

Spring Beet and Potato Salad

Serves 2

Dressing:
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp dried dill
2 tsp dried chervil
2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp sea salt or to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste

2 cups cooked beets, diced large
2 cups baby potatoes, halved, or quartered
4 radishes, thinly sliced
2 ramps, thinly sliced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
4 hardboiled eggs, sliced
mixed greens of your choice (such as arugula, mizuno, dandilion, spinach, watercress)

Whisk dressing ingredients together until smooth.  Combine beets, potatoes, radishes, ramps, shallot, eggs in a bowl, and toss with dressing until well combined.  Place greens on a plate, and top with salad. 

Golden Beet Chevre Gnocchi

Better to try something and fail than to never have tried at all...afterall I can always try again, I don't give up!  This has been something that I have been saying to myself reguarding the making of gnocchi!  I had attempted making gnocchi quite a few times in the last month and almost given up, because my gnocchi always turned out like dumplings, too sticky to be shaped, or too full of flour.  But I don't give up.  So last weekend I attempted to make them again...and succeeded!  Ok, so part of the problem was I wasn't following recipes, because I never do.  Also I wasn't making the traditional potato gnocchi, so that might have been why the dough was more sticky.  But whatever the case this time I made them with golden beets and chevre and they turned out delcious!  Pillowy and soft as gnocchi should be!  Not tough and heavy like my failed attempts. 

I had thought that chevre would have less moisture than the traditional ricotta, therefore needing less flour...and I was right!  The gnocchi dough itself only had 4 ingredients, chevre, golden beets, eggs and flour, and proved to be easy to shape!  The only thing I was disappointed about was the fact that the lovely yellow color of the beets was lost in the gnocchi.  But I got over it when I tasted how delicious they were!  I could be sneaky and serve them to beet haters and they would love them not even knowing they contained beets!  I decided to serve them with a caramelized shallot and fennel mixture laced with garlic and lemon and topped off with crunchy walnuts.  It was all delicious once it was plated, and quite beautiful, especially to me since it was a sucess!  The gnocchi were like little delicious pillows, toasty on the outside, soft in the middle, and the fennel and shallots were almost jam like, deliciously savory with the garlic and tart lemon.  It was the perfect dish for a chilly spring day!  Here is the recipe if you would like to try some for yourself! 

Golden Beet Chevre Gnocchi with Caramelized Fennel and Toasted Walnuts

Serves 3

4 oz organic local chevre (soft goat cheese)
1/2 cup roasted organic golden beat puree*
2 cups all purpose flour (sifted), plus additional for flouring work surface
1 large organic egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 Tbsp olive oil, divided
2 large organic fennel bulbs, thinly sliced
4 large shallots, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp fresh thyme (or 2 tsp dried)
2 large organic lemons
1/2 cup toasted walnuts

In a large bowl, beat together the goat cheese beet puree and mix until evenly combined.  Add the eggs, followed by the salt, and pepper.  Slowly add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time until it is all incorporated into the dough. If your dough seems a bit too wet, feel free to add an extra 1/4 cup of flour. Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured work surface and knead for a few minutes. The dough will still be fairly wet, but you should be able to handle it.  Working with about a handful of dough at a time, roll out a long snake about an inch thick. Use a floured knife to cut out the gnocchi every inch and a half or so. Roll each gnocchi along the tines of a fork (or simply indent by gently pressing the back of the fork into the side of each nugget). Place the formed gnocchi on a floured baking sheet.  When ready to cook, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil and add the gnocchi in batches. Let cook until they bob to the surface and then cook for an additional 2 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to pull out of the pot and set aside on a plate.  Meanwhile, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet.  Add fennel, shallots, and saute until caramelized and soft, about 8-10 minutes.  Add garlic and thyme and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Remove fennel and shallots from pan and set aside.  Add additional 2 Tbsp olive oil to the pan, and add gnocchi.  Cook until golden on each side, about 4-5 minutes total.  Add shallots back to the pan along with 1 Tbsp zest, juice of 2 lemons, a little more olive oil if desired, walnuts, and sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.  Cook until heated through, and serve warm  with a salad!

*To roast beets, preheat the oven to 475 degrees.  Wrap 2 large beets in foil and roast in the oven for about an hour or until tender when pierced with a knife.  Let cool, peel, and puree in a blender. 

Spring Fiesta Salad

It is above 60 degrees today in Minnesota and I am loving it!  It is nice to be able to get out for my post work stress relief walks and enjoy the sun again!  The fact that it is so nice calls for a celebration!  Well, celebration in the form of a pretty salad at least.  So, I raided my fridge to find the most colorful veggies I could and got to work composing one!  What I found was a golden beet, some red (purple) cabbage, and some orange carrots.  But let's not forget the green, I added a bit of cilantro as well.  With the cilantro the salad was taking on a southwestern or mexican theme so I decided to go with it and give it an agave lime vinaigrette laced with garlic, cumin and chipotle. 

The salad looked like a fiesta, as if someone had tossed a bunch of ribbons and confetti in different colors together.  But it needed something to finish it off.  So I added some golden raisins for sweetness as well as some sweet and spicy pepitas I had on hand and then it was perfect!  Incredibly refreshing and delicious and the perfect accompaniment to some bbq tofu I had also made.  Here is the recipe if you would like to enjoy some for yourself!

Spring Fiesta Salad
(Beet, Carrot, and Cabbage Salad with Sweet and Spicy Pepitas and Golden Raisins)
Serves 1-2

 Nuts:
1/2 cup pepitas
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1 Tbsp maple sugar
1/4 tsp ground chipotle powder
1 tsp sea salt

Dressing:
2 Tbsp lime juice
2 tsp agave nectar
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp sea salt or to taste
1/8 tsp ground chipotle, or to taste
1 garlic clove, minced

Salad:
1 cup golden beets, very thinly sliced (paper thin)
1 cup carrots, very thinly sliced (paper thin)
1 cup red cabbage, very thinly sliced
2 Tbsp minced cilantro
1/4 cup golden raisins

To make pepitas, preheat oven to 375 degrees line a baking sheet with foil, and spray with non-stick spray.  Toss pepitas together with agave, sugar, chipotle and sea salt, then spread out on the baking sheet and toast until nuts are starting to lightly brown and are fragrant, about 10-15 min.  Remove from oven and let cool.  In a small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients.  In a large bowl, combine veggies and cilatro and pour over dressing.  Toss well to coat.  Place salad on a serving plate, and sprinkle  with pepitas and golden raisins. 

Curried Coconut Borscht

Yesterday, I had a large amount of beets and cabbage in my fridge that needed to be eaten, and was in the mood for some soup!  So of course the first thing that came to mind was borscht, but I was not in the mood for the typical flavors of borscht.  Something more exotic however sounded good!  What I really wanted was some really good Indian curry with tofu.  So I decided to make a hybrid of the curried tofu I normally make with borscht!  Of course all of the usual borscht suspects were involved...beets, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. 

But instead of the usual red onions I would normally use, I used shallots and scallions.  I also added some jalapeno and ginger for a kick, some mild curry, tumeric, and a good amount of garlic!  I made the soup silky with coconut milk, and added lime and cilantro to finish it off.  But not to forget the tofu, which I crisped up in the oven before adding it to the soup!  It was delicious!  Very warming, and all of the good qualities of both dishes!  It was as well beautiful due to the beets, and their ability to dye anything deep magenta!  For some reason spring makes me think of borscht, and this was the perfect warming dish for a cool spring day!  Here is the recipe if you would like to try some!

Curried Coconut Borscht with Tofu 

Serves 3

1 10 oz block firm tofu, diced

coconut oil, warmed to liquid

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1 large shallot, sliced

1 bunch scallions, sliced
2 cups red beets, cut into large dice

2 cups carrots, sliced on the diagonal

4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, minced
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 1/2 Tbsp mild curry powder
1 tsp tumeric
2 cups potatoes, diced, or sliced if very small
2 cups red cabbage, chopped
1 15 oz can lite coconut milk
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 tsp sea salt or to taste
1 Tbsp agave nectar
juice of one large lime
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp arrowroot, dissolved in 2 Tbsp water

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil, and toss tofu with just enough coconut oil to coat.  Place on baking sheet, and bake until starting to brown at edges.  Remove from oven.  Meanwhile, Add coconut oil to a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add scallions, shallot, beets, carrots, and saute until onions are softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, jalapeno, ginger, curry powder, tumeric, and saute until spices are fragrant, about 2 minute.  Add potatoes, cabbage, coconut milk, stock, sea salt, and agave nectar, and bring to a boil.  Lower to a simmer and cook until veggies are tender, about 20 minutes.  Add tofu, lime juice, cilantro, and arrowroot, and cook until soup thickens slightly.  Taste and add more salt if necessary.  Serve hot! 

Beet and Celeriac Hashbrowns with Fried Egg and Garlicy Mustard Greens

Minnesota woke up to a blanket of white powdered sugar frosting outside today...as it decided to dump snow after being nice and finally up to 50 degrees last week.  Kind of an evil tease on the weather's part if you ask me!  I was a bit bummed about it being cold and all, wanting to run outside today, but opting for the treadmill instead since they did a horrible job of plowing around my neighborhood.  Just looking at the snow makes me feel chilly!  The deli where I work sold gallons of soup and tons of hot food today to the brave souls that felt like venturing out.  I needed some warmth as well and maybe that is why I thought a bit of warming breakfast for dinner tonight might be just the thing!  I was sittting on my lunchbreak trying to figure out what I could make from the ingredients I had at home.  Not something sweet like pancakes, which I always have the makings for.  Something savory and a little salty like hash browns sounded perfect!  But there was one problem.  I didn't have any potatoes.  I did however have celeriac and beets! 

A beet and celeriac hash, how beautiful would that be with the bright red color?!  So that is what I made.  I topped it off with a fried egg, and some garlicy mustard greens, which are my favorite green right now, so I had bought a bunch of them last weekend.  It was beautiful, with the red and green, but most importantly it was delicious!  Salty hash browns crisped at the edges full of veggie goodness and spicy mustard greens with the richness of the egg...yummy!  Made me forget about the icky snow for a bit!  If you think potatoes are the only way to go with hashed browns you should try some other veggies, you just might like them!  Here is the recipe if you would like to try mine! 

Beet and Celeriac Hashbrowns with Fried Egg and Garlicy Mustard Greens

Serves 2

1 large shallot, minced
1 large beet, peeled and grated
1 medium celeriac (celery root), peeled and grated
1/2 tsp sea salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
1 Tbsp Earth Balance butter
1 Tbsp olive oil, or more if needed

2 large organic eggs

1 medium bunch mustard greens
1 clove garlic, minced

In a bowl, mix together the shallot, beet, and celeriac along with pepper.  Preheat oven to 250 degrees.   In a medium non-stick skillet, melt the butter and olive oil over medium heat.  Place the beet mixture into the pan and press down with a spatula.  Let cook a few minutes, then break up, flip over the pieces and press back together to brown other side.  Do this a few times until the veggies are starting to get browned.  When browned, remove from pan, sprinkle liberally with sea salt, and keep warm in the oven.  Wipe out the chunks from the pan, and either spray with non-stick spray or add a little more olive oil.  Place back on heat, and when hot, add eggs.  Cover pan, and reduce heat to medium low until eggs reach desired doneness (or you could do over-easy and flip them to cook the other side, in which case don't reduce the heat or cover with the pan).  When eggs are done cooking, remove from pan, and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper and keep warm.  Place pan back on the heat, return heat to medium, and add a little more olive oil to the pan, along with garlic and mustard greens.  Saute greens until they are just wilted, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper and remove from heat.  To plate, place a half the hash browns on each plate.  Top each with an egg and half of the mustard greens.  Enjoy!

Vanilla and Beets

Whenever I encounter the lovely scent of vanilla it makes me happy.  This is why I often dab on a bit of vanilla essential oil in the morning so I can enjoy the scent throughout the day!  Afterall vanilla is the base of many delicioius things such as sugar cookies, cakes, or ice cream.  But it is actually quite good in savory applications as well!  Such as in a vanilla squash risotto, or in pureed rutabaga with a little coconut oil, or with beets in a salad!  I had a few beets last night and I decided to combine them with something vanilla laced. 

I roasted up some beets and rutabegas, and combined them with some dried tart cherries and salty sweet pecans in a salad, then whisked together a vanilla citrus vinaigrette and tossed it all together.  It was wonderful!  The vanilla gave the dressing a wonderful light scent and flavor to the salad without overwhelming it.  I suppose it was a little dessert like, but savory as well, and so delicious for the little amount of time it took to prepare!  Here is the recipe if you would like to try vanilla in a little different way than the usual! 

Roasted  Beet and Rutabaga Salad with Toasted Pecans and Dried Cherries with Vanilla Citrus Dressing

Serves 3

3 medium beets, thinly sliced

3 small rutabagas, thinly sliced on the diagonal
olive oil

sea salt

Pecans:

1/2 cup pecans
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1 Tbsp maple sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/8 tsp ground chipotle powder

Dressing:
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp orange juice
1 Tbsp riesling vinegar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
seeds of one vanilla bean

1 Tbsp agave nectar

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

5 cups mixed flavorful greens such as arugula, mizuna and dandilion
1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
1/2 cup dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Line three baking sheets with foil, and spray with nonstick spray. Toss beets and rutabagas with just enough olive oil to coat, and spread out on sheet pans.  Roast until starting to brown at edges and tender, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with sea salt, and let cool to room temp. Decrease the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Toss pecans with agave nectar, maple sugar and sea salt and spread out on one of the sheets. Roast in the oven until fragrant and starting to brown, about 7-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Meanwhile, whisk dressing ingredients together in a small bowl. Combine greens, shallots, and roasted veggies, in a large bowl, pour dressing over, and toss with hands to coat. Divide salad between 3 plates and top with toasted nuts and cherries.

Beautiful Beets

My favorite thing about beets besides that they are delicious is their beautiful vibrant color.  They seem to bleed deep pink hues onto whatever they come into contact with, which can be a bad thing in the case of your hands, but a good thing if you would like a lovely pink salad or red velvet cake.  Last night I was wondering what it would look (and taste) like to pair them with pasta!  Pink pasta is something I have never seen before, but how beautiful would that be!  I thought the beets would be delicious with whole wheat spaghetti, toasted walnuts, and dandilion greens as well as a bit of roquefort cheese I had on hand.  My thought was correct!   It was wonderful all of those things together, a simple but comforting tasty dish!  The best part was how pretty it looked from the beet's pink color.  If you are looking for a simple meal or a way to use up a beet, here's the recipe!

Beet and Walnut Pasta with Roquefort

Serves 2

4 oz whole wheat spaghetti pasta
1 Tbsp olive oil, plus additional for finishing
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1 large cooked beet*  cut into small dice
1 bunch dandilion greens
3 oz roquefort cheese, crumbled

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile, Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large non-stick skillet.  Add shallots and saute until soft and starting to caramelize, about 5-7 minutes.  Add garlic, walnuts, beets, dandilion greens and cooked pasta, and cook until greens have wilted and everything has heated through.  Stir in 1 Tbsp olive oil (or more if desired)  Remove from heat and stir in roquefort.  Serve immediately. 

*to cook beet, wrap in foil, and bake for about an hour to an hour and a half (depending on how large the beet is) until tender and a knife inserted into it goes in easily.  Let cool slightly and peel. 

Sweets N Beets...

Today I was going to make hummus...and I had been at work.  Kind of silly how I day dream about recipes instead of other things I could be doing, but I suppose, since I work in a health food store, I am looking at food a lot!  I was feeling rather uninspired in the realm of hummus.  I didn't want the usual flavors such as plain garlic, or roasted red pepper.  Now, don't get me wrong, those flavors are delicious, but I was in an exotic sort of mood.  I randomly walked by the Terra chips, which are delicious with hummus by the way, and the "Sweets & Beets" variety caught my eye.  Suddenly it dawned on me...sweets and beet hummus!  I had used beets in hummus before, and they gave it a lovely pink hue, but didn't add much flavor.  Sweet potatoes however, would add a sweet flavor, and their colors together would be beautiful!  So when I got home, I whipped up this concoction, using white beans as the base, and the usuals for hummus, olive oil, lemon and cumin, with a bit of chipotle for kick, and of couse lots of garlic!  I changed it up by using some almond butter instead of the traditional tahini, because I love the sweet flavor it gives the hummus.  It was beautiful once it was all blended together...like a sunset, a vibrant coral pinkish color. But even more exciting was the flavor!  It was sweet, and garlicy, with a zip from the lemon and heat from the chipotle!  Scrumtious, especially with the Terra chips I had bought that inspired it!  I also enjoyed some as a dip for raw green beans and it was fabulous!  Try out this lovely hummus with some chips, or whatever you like to munch on! 

Sweets N Beets Hummus

Makes 3 cups

1 1/2 cups cooked navy beans (canned is fine)

2 cups cooked yam or sweet puree

1 cup cooked beets, diced

3 garlic cloves

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup almond butter
1/4 cup olive oil

1 Tbsp sea salt or to taste

1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/4-1/2 tsp chipotle powder (depending on how spicy you want it)

freshly ground pepper to taste

water as needed

In a food processor, combine all ingredients and process until smooth, adding water if necessary to thin out. Serve with chips or veggies for dipping, or as a spread on a sandwich!