Tag: beets

Avoiding Taxes, Beets, and The Best Vodka Sauce You’ll Ever Have

Here I am, yet again…. avoiding my taxes like the bubonic plague…. 😀 After I write this blog post, I’m really going to try to make myself finish them – no matter how devastating the outcome.  Time to face reality….

I had a most relaxing day yesterday, as one is wont to do on a Sunday.  I found a new wine bar that’s so amazing – they have way better pricing than most wine bars do ($9 – $13 a glass as opposed to the typical $13 – $18), a great tasting menu (I had a cheese plate), and the bar was super cozy with a real stone fireplace, which I was lucky enough to sit right in front of. Major score on my part.  The place is called Black Mountain Wine House, and despite being about a 15 minute drive from my apartment, was totally worth it. If you live in Brooklyn, I highly suggest.

The fireplace in the wine bar was super hot and cozy and made me reflect on Panther Room (the side room of Output, which closed forever a couple of months ago).  I used to love going to Panther room on a Sunday night when I had Monday off and getting all kinds of funked up and then sitting in front of their fireplace… it was so perfect in the winter.  I will always hold a special place in my heart for Panther Room and all the good times I had there… I digress….

So nostalgic right now… ❤ (sigh)

Moving on.  I have recently become obsessed with beets.  I really love foods with earthy (aka ‘dirt’) flavors, hence my love of anything with truffles, mushrooms, super rank cheeses, and BEETS.  Lately, I’ve been cooking them once every couple of weeks. They pair so well with goat cheese, and also sour cream and dill – you can use them in a hearty winter salad, or as a main in a thick-ass borscht.

This weekend, I prepared beets for a salad with (you guessed it) GOAT CHEESE.  A match made in heaven – right up there with peanut butter and jelly.  I know… I get it – beets aren’t everyone’s cup of tea.  But this recipe is simple, healthy, and could honestly be made into a main meal if you want to add some hot lentils or quinoa to make the salad a main dish!

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Beets aren’t just tasty – they’re packed with nutrients and such a pretty color – just be careful and don’t wear white while cooking them!

When you buy fresh beets, you’ll want to first trim off the beet greens (the leafy stems) as well as any root portion growing out the end of the beet.  Next, while they’re raw, use a vegetable peeler and peel the beet all the way around.  Give the beets a final rinse in cold water just to make sure any dirt is rinsed away (they are a root vegetable, after all).  In order to ensure the beets cook faster and evenly (since a bunch of beets usually includes beets of differentiating sizes), quarter or cut them in half depending on their size.

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The peeled, cleaned, and still raw beets… yes, the vodka you see is for the vodka sauce I also made that day.. and yes, it is 50 Cent’s brand… I love me some 50 cent (Candy Shop, anyone?)

 

 

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Quel Couleur! Boil the beets until you can easily penetrate (hahaha… penetrate …) them with a fork. Usually about 25 minutes.

Boil the beets in some salted water for about 20-25 minutes, at a rolling boil.  Stab them with the tines of a fork to make sure they’re cooked through before removing from heat.

Baby spinach or baby kale pairs best with beets….beets are definitely not a good mix with romaine or iceburg lettuce (and lord knows I really actually prefer romaine to spinach or kale …).  Then of course, the goat cheese is essential – any time you add cheese, nuts, beans or any sort of protein to a salad it becomes more than a salad… it becomes worthy of meal status… this is great if you’re trying to be healthy but also want to feel full.

I also threw in some pine nuts, which really complimented the beets, goat cheese and spinach.  Cherry/grape tomatoes go well with just about anything (apart from blue cheese… the acids from the blue cheese and tomatoes do NOT mix… take my word), so I threw some of those in, and then drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar reduction, and sprinkled with freshly ground salt and pepper.

In the past, I have found thinly-sliced, green apples really pair well with beets and goat cheese, as well as walnuts – but this is more of a summer salad to me.  As I previously mentioned, you can very well make this salad into a meal by adding some cooked lentils or quinoa.

Now for the main attraction:

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Turkey meatballs in homemade vodka sauce… you can also use beef/pork or lentil (vegetarian) meatballs… I am going to make the lentil ballz later this week and will post a recipe for them then…it’s been too long since I’ve made them (really time consuming, but worth the effort if you don’t eat meat!)

The vodka sauce – yet another example of bastardized Italian food.  Vodka sauce is uniquely Italian-American… doesn’t exist in Italy, only in America.  But if you’ve had it, you’ll know it’s fucking amazing:

INGREDIENTS (for the vodka sauce):

  • 1 cup vodka (can be cheap vodka – the alcohol cooks out regardless)
  • 1 large can crushed tomatoes (preferably San Marzano) (28 oz.)
  • 1 tiny can tomato paste (6 oz.)
  • 1/2 Spanish (yellow) onion, finely minced
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 3 Tbs. olive oil
  • 2 Tbs. butter
  • 1 cup finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano (aka Paremsan)
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tsp. granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano flakes
  • 1 tsp. dried basil flakes
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 3 Tbs. finely chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS (for the vodka sauce):

  • Heat the oil over low heat, and add in the minced onions – cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent and cooked through.
  • Add in the minced garlic AND the red pepper flakes.   Cook another 2-3 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally and being careful not to burn garlic.
  • Add in the can of crushed tomatoes, stir and increase the heat to medium.
  • Add in the vodka and continue to stir for another minute.
  • Add in the can of tomato paste, and stir thoroughly.

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  • Add in all of the seasonings (basil, oregano, sugar, salt, pepper)
  • Taste test the sauce to see if it needs more seasoning… add as necessary
  • Add in the heavy cream and reduce to low heat. Sauce should be a nice orange color after adding the cream
  • Add in the grated Parmesan cheese AND the chopped parsley, and stir until incorporated
  • Add in the butter (this can be optional – it gives the sauce an extra richness)

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This sauce is perfect to serve as is with the pasta of your choice after completing the above steps.

If you want to make a heartier meal, go ahead and make the ballz too.  In this case, I used turkey meat (recipe for vegetarian ballz coming up this week…).

INGREDIENTS (for Ballz):

  • One package (1.3 lbs) turkey meat (93% lean, 7% fat)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesano
  • 1 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. granulated garlic
  • 1 tsp. dried basil
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1 and 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. black pepper
  • 2 Tbs. mayonnaise
  • 2 Tbs. chopped parsley
  • Dash of worcestershire sauce
  • *** more bread crumbs if too soft when you attempt to roll into ball

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DIRECTIONS (for Ballz): 

  • Add all ingredients listed above together in a large bowl, and mix thoroughly with your hands (yes, your hands… don’t be a pu$$y – a spoon isn’t gonna work)
  • Turn the pasta sauce to a medium heat – you’re going to cook the ballz directly in the sauce this time!  (it keeps them so tender and moist)
  • Once all ingredients are mixed together, grab a chunk of the mixture at a time and roll into a small ball (or large, if that’s how you likey…. 😉   )
  • Drop the ballz as you make them into the hot vodka sauce
  • Keep making and dropping ballz into saucepan until you’ve used up all of the meat mixture
  • Stir EVER SO GENTLY with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, so as not to fuck your ballz up and massacre them (gently rotate them around the hot saucepan)
  • Cook on low-medium heat for 15-20 minutes
  • Serve finished ballz and sauce over pasta or polenta (or if you’re on a “diet,” without either)

 

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Ballz baby

Yeah… definitely not doing my taxes now.  Oh well.  I should just pull an Anthony Bourdain and not file my taxes for years … except unlike Anthony Bourdain (God rest his soul), I will never get rich and be able to pay them off in a major lump sum someday after neglecting them for 10 years running.

 

Soup For the Soul – New Year’s Introspection and Borscht

Another year has come and gone, and we are back to the boring, dismal, no-holiday-having month that is January. I don’t mind winter – I honestly love winter, as long as there is snow and not the dreary, depressing rain that is falling today. Today’s nasty rain is especially devastating, since most of the pretty Christmas lights have been taken down and everyone has kicked their poor tree to the curb. If snow was falling, I don’t think the city would feel so drab right now. NYC currently feels like a hole I can’t escape from – but we’ll leave that topic for another day.

  • I’m obsessed with Christmas lights and Christmas trees… my aunt and uncle’s tree is always one of my faves because they use those old fashioned bubbler lights

I always get sad when both Christmas and NYE are over…. people return to their foul, sour-faced, pretentious city-dweller dispositions instead of the fake, cheerful ones they assume during the holidays – smiling and wishing everyone well with a smile on their face. Now it’s back to avoiding eye contact and looking miserable with a sour face on the subway. If I ruled the world, every day would be Christmas! I kid, I kid…

Me and my “son,” Mr. Peeper (aka Peeps). We both love Christmas, cheese, and rolling around on the shag carpet

Now that the holidays are officially over, it is time to start planning something to look forward to again and working towards my New Year’s goals (hence me sitting here working on this blog). I am trying to invest more time into writing again, whether it’s about food, short-stories, or just general, self-centered thoughts. The older I have become, the harder it is to find enough time in the day for all the things I not only have to do, but want to do. Work, and commuting to and from work, takes up such a large portion of each day, week, month, and year, that I now truly understand why it is important to love the work you do…. If I can’t make a full time living doing what I want to do at this point in my life, I can at least devote as much time as possible to work towards those goals.

Between work, general household upkeep, maintaining my cat, maintaining relationships, cooking/cleaning, errands, and self-care, it sometimes seems like one more chore to make myself sit in front of my computer at night and write. Although, once I do sit down and start writing, it is never a chore; quite the opposite. Writing is like cooking is for me – pleasurable, relaxing, and often times hard to put a cap on it once I start.

Since we are in the throes of winter (despite the lack of snow thanks to global warming), my next few blogs will focus on comfort food and soups. Honestly though, I’m not sure who I’m trying to kid… pretty much everything I cook seems to constitute as comfort food, given that it’s usually laden with cheese, wine soaked, or carb heavy. Comfort food and comfort soup is the way to go when the weather is cold.

I had never made borscht before, but I had a craving for beets (I’ve always love beets and I always will…) and also for a thick, pureed soup, so it was only natural that borscht was on the menu! Since one of my other New Year’s goals is to completely cut out meat from my diet, I made a vegetarian borscht using vegetable stock in place of beef stock, and obviously did not put any beef in the soup.

  • The finished product: Thick as hell, topped with a dollop of sour cream and fresh dill

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 fresh, large beets (or 5-6 smaller ones) (**beets should be cleaned, skinned/peeled, and cubed)
  • 2 medium-sized carrots (chopped)
  • 1/2 of a large white onion (finely chopped)
  • 4 cloves of garlic (finely minced)
  • 2 stalks of celery
  • 1 large potato (Idaho or russet)
  • 1 cup thinly chopped cabbage
  • 2 bay leaves (dried are fine)
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil and/or butter
  • 4 cups (one 32 oz. carton) of vegetable stock
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 TBS white vinegar
  • 1 tsp celery salt
  • pinch of cayenne pepper
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • sour cream*to garnish
  • fresh dill *to garnish
  • YOU WILL NEED A BLENDER OR IMMERSION BLENDER!!!!

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Prep the veggies – the beets should be washed, peeled (using a regular carrot/apple peeler), and cut into cube size chunks; carrots should be chopped, onion finely chopped, garlic finely minced, potato chopped into cubes, celery chopped, and cabbage thinly sliced and set aside (this will go in to cook when everything else has been blended)
  2. In a large pot, heat olive oil and/or butter (I prefer a combination of the two for added richness) over low heat, add in the onions stirring occasionally and cooking over low-heat until translucent and yellow.
  3. Add in the garlic and bay leaves and continue to cook over low heat for another minute or two. DO NOT BURN GARLIC.
  4. Add in all of the other veggies, APART FROM THE CABBAGE (beets, carrots, celery, and potato), and then add in entire container of stock.
  5. Increase heat to medium temperature so that the contents of the pot comes to a low boil. Continue to cook over medium heat for about 25-35 minutes, stirring occasionally. Check to see that vegetables are thoroughly cooked (soft) by poking with a fork. I suggest testing the beets and potatoes this way, since they will be the last to finish cooking.
  6. REMOVE THE BAY LEAVES BEFORE BLENDING!
  7. Using an immersion blender or a ladle to move soup into an actual blender, blend around 3/4 of the contents of the pot of soup. This creates a rich, thick puree, but also leaves some chunks of veggies for texture and aesthetic.
  8. Continue to keep soup over medium heat once fully blended, add in the cabbage, smoked paprika, celery salt, pinch of cayenne, and regular salt/black pepper to suit your tastes (**the smoked paprika gives it a richer, smokier flavor and complements the earthiness of the beets!)
  9. Once the cabbage is cooked through, add in the vinegar and stir
  10. Serve hot, with a generous dollop of sour cream in the middle of the bowl (it takes it to another level that is orgasmic to the taste buds), and some fresh dill.

I also served some potato and cheese pierogies on the side to make it a heartier meal!!!! Very Eastern European…. but hey – when you’re just a boring, fourth-generation American, you’re allowed to pick and choose which 25% of your ethnic background you occasionally want to play up… on this day we went with the polski :p

Such a beautiful color – just be careful you don’t wear white while cooking 😉 Beets are also really good for you – not that I actually give a f*ck, but they’re loaded with fiber and vitamin C

There are so many other soup recipes I plan to share in the upcoming weeks; everything from my mom’s seafood chowder, to a thick-ass split pea soup, to a Tuscan bread soup called Ribollita. I just fucking love soup – I could probably live on a diet of soups, chowders, and stews!