Rouxbe Online Cooking School Blog

Beets are one of those vegetables that can be found in the market year round. Even though they are the youngest and tenderest around the Fall season, their sweet flavor and nutritious qualities can be enjoyed any time of year.

To ensure freshness when selecting beets, look for ones with the stem and healthy leaves still attached. If you can’t find them like this, make sure the beet itself is firm with smooth and unbruised skin. Avoid wrinkled beets and ones that have soft spots. The older and larger the beet, the tougher, drier and more fibrous it can be, so it’s best to choose medium to small ones.

When storing beets, trim the leaves, leaving about an inch or so of the stem intact. The leaves themselves are incredibly nutritious and can be sautéed, steamed or braised, just like spinach or Swiss Chard. Unwashed beets will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks and the washed leaves about 4 days or so.

While beets can be eaten raw, their flesh becomes soft and buttery when roasted or simmered. Beets are infamous for “borscht” soup and there are as many variations and recipes for this soup as there are families in Central and Eastern Europe. This version of Borscht is very simple to prepare and uses the same soup-making process in the Rouxbe Cooking School Lesson on How to Make Stock-Based Clear Soups. Once you learn this process, it’s pretty easy to put almost any soup together. And why is it that anything that starts with bacon just seems to taste better? :)Celery, onions, carrots and potatoes are simmered along with rich-colored beets, red wine vinegar and fresh dill. Once tender, the soup is ladled into a large, warm bowls. If desired, finish the soups off with a dollop of sour cream. Serve with some hearty bread and you have one delicious, nutritious and filling meal.Here is the full text recipe for Borscht Soup.

If you’re not in the mood for soup, here are a few other ways to incorporate beets into your diet:

Toasted Sesame Miso Dressing – This salad dressing is super healthy, full of flavor and goes particularly well with grated raw beets (watch the full video for a fun ’salad bar’ idea).

Marinated Beets or Sole with Beurre Blanc and Golden Beets

Happy Cooking!

Homemade granola is one of the simplest things to prepare and while it can be convenient to buy it pre-made, many store bought varieties are often loaded with corn syrup making them too sweet and unhealthy.

It takes just a few minutes to combine some large-flake rolled oats with your favorite combination of nuts. Stir with a bit of maple syrup, grapeseed oil and vanilla and after about 10 to 15 minutes of baking, you’ve got yourself some delicious homemade granola. The granola will keep for quite sometime if stored in an airtight container.

Start your engine in the morning with a bowl of granola, topped with yogurt and fresh fruit puree. To add a dose of omega-3 fatty acids to your diet, sprinkle the granola with some ground up flax seeds. Or add some dried fruit and soy milk and you’ve got yourself a tasty cereal.

A little goes a long way, so it also makes for a quick mid-day power-snack. It’s also the perfect snack to keep your energy up on those pretty Fall hikes. Here is a my homemade granola recipe, for anyone that is interested.

Have a great weekend!

Kimberley

Okay, let me start off by saying, I think that most kitchen “gadgets” are useless! I have seen some doozies in my days – has anyone ever heard of the “butter cutter”?  I also think it is interesting that often the people with the most gadgets are the ones that usually do the least amount of cooking!

So, why would I ask what your favorite gadget is then…is it some kind of set up? No, it’s not. I just know that everyone has their secret gadget…but maybe you don’t like to talk about it. So what is it? Is it a garlic press? Maybe it’s pizza scissors. WHAT!!! YOU SAY…PIZZA SCISSORS? That’s right folks, pizza scissors. I can just imagine where I would store these. And what about getting them sharpened…”ah ya, I’d like to get these sharpened please…”

Okay, maybe I am getting carried away with that one, but I do have a secret gadget that I use. I only just bought it last month. Years ago my friend Leah (from culinary school) had a garlic peeler tube (similar to the one in the image below). It seemed to work really well and I knew it didn’t take up much space, but I never wanted to buy one as I thought, “Oh come on, like I need that silly little gadget”. Yet, every time I would peel garlic, I would say, “Crap, peeling garlic sort of drives me crazy.” Also, the fresher it is, the harder it is to peel.

So, last month I took the dive and I bought one of these little garlic peeler tube thingys and you know what – I use it and I like it! Just gently roll the garlic in the tube and the skin just pops right off.

Garlic peelers like these can be found in most kitchen stores. The one featured above is from Williams-Sonoma.

So tell me, “what’s your secret gadget”?

Ciao for now

dawn

Looking for more chicken recipes? This one might just fit the bill. This chicken dish is easy and pretty quick to whip together, although your guests would never know it.

First, you mix together breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, lemon zest, green onions and a bit of melted butter.

The chicken breasts are then coated with the breading and baked in the oven for about 20 minutes. As the chicken rests, the quick but delicious sauce is whipped together. The ingredients for the sauce are simple…chicken stock, lemon juice and parsley…how easy is that!

I personally like to serve this with these creamy and oh-so-dreamy mashed potatoes. The secret to these little pillowy potatoes is that they are steamed rather than boiled. The end result is an ultra-smooth mashed potato.

Sautéed carrots also add a nice punch of color and contrast in texture. If you are short on time,  you can just steam or boil the carrots instead. Then toss them in a bit of butter and voilà you are ready for dinner.

Here is the full text recipe for the Oven Baked Parmesan Chicken.

Hope you enjoy!

Ciao for now

dawn