Plus, Elaine, you have to admit, beets are hands-down the prettiest vegetable out there. I mean, what other brilliantly pink food can you eat that isn't of the sugar-coated marshmallow variety*? Check it:
*Don't misunderstand...I am a card-carrying Peeps lover.
Menu:
Borscht
Garlic-Herb Braised Cod
Spanish Millet
So if you have a bunch of cooked beets sitting around waiting to be used up, and it's a hundred-and-umpteen degrees outside for the 75th day in a row, you just have to make borscht. And you have to serve it in a bone-china white soup bowl, because there just isn't a prettier pink in nature. This recipe was adapted from another great cookbook, The Silver Palate Cookbook. I've written it as I made it, which involved cutting down the ingredients to make about 3 1c servings.
Borscht
adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook, by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins
serves 3
2 1/4 c cooked beets, cubed
2 c water
1 T sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/3c milk
6 T light sour cream
1. In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the beets, sugar, lemon juice, and salt and lower to a simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Remove from heat.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk. While whisking, gradually add 1/4 cup of the beet mixture to the egg mixture. Turn the heat back on under the beat mixture and stir in the egg mixture just enough to heat through.
4. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for several hours until very cold. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt, sugar, or lemon juice as needed.
5. To serve, ladle 1 c soup into a bowl and top with 2 T sour cream.
Garlic-Herb Braised Cod
Nothing fancy here, just an opportunity to use up some wilting herbs from the refrigerator. Any combination that you like would work.
serves 2
1 T each minced basil, parsley, tarragon, and cilantro
2 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp lemon zest
salt and pepper to taste
2 4-6 oz cod fillets
2 T white wine or chicken broth
1. In a small bowl, combine the herbs, oil, garlic, lemon zest, salt and pepper.
2. Heat a skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Add the cod fillets and saute quickly on each side, about one minute per. Divide the herb mixture over each fillet, drizzle the wine over the fillets, and cover.
3. Braise for about 5 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve immediately, spooning the cooking liquid over each serving.
Spanish Millet
adapted from Crescent Dragonwagon's Passionate Vegetarian
1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced into thin vertical crescents
1 green bell pepper, diced (I used a roasted poblano pepper* here)
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 c cooked Basic Fluffy-Style Millet**
Tabasco sauce to taste
3 T tomato paste
*1. To roast a poblano pepper, which I far prefer to using bell peppers: from fresh or frozen, place the pepper over a heat source (hot grill or gas stovetop flame) and roast until the skin is blistered and lightly charred, turning frequently. If you do this over your gas stovetop, be careful of pepper juice dripping onto the burner. Allow the pepper to cool and peel the bits of char off before dicing.
2. In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and pepper and saute for 1 minute.
3. Fold in the millet, cover, and heat through for about 5 minutes.
4. Mix in the Tabasco and tomato paste until fully incorporated. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
**Basic Fluffy-Style Millet
Follow the same recipe as for Basic Moist-Style Millet, but reduce the water to 2 cups and the cooking time to 18 minutes.
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