Beet greens are a new, delightful discovery to me.  For the longest time, I carried a grudge against beets for the appalling way they treated my childhood taste buds.  My conclusion, at age 8, was only the only one logical, or even thinkable: like Romeo from Verona, the vegetable must be banished. Of course, my mother wished that I could think in terms of the Bard at that tender age, but I was probably too focused on drawing spaceships destroying each other with intricate multi-colored laser beams.

Lisl has brought many new things into my life which I find surprisingly enjoyable, like children (well, maybe the jury should be out on that one), washing up as I cook, pavlova (more on that below), and beets.  Roasted beets with goat cheese, walnuts, and arugula. That’s so good, it doesn’t need to be a grammatically proper sentence.  However I digress from the initial impetus of this post, which was me using more of the greens from the vegetables I purchase. Who knew that you could eat beet, turnip, radish, dandelion, etc etc greens? (Answer: many of you, but not me until last year!)

I purchased some beets with the greens still attached and fresh. I also found these baby turnips with their greens at the Kingston, NY farmers market (now open).  When Lisl and I had dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns the other weekend (wonderful experience), one of my favorite elements was the simplest: raw baby turnips with a subtle dressing.  And that is exactly how I ate the beauties in the above picture.  But rather than throw out the greens, which I might have done in an earlier, more ignorant phase, I sauted them with the beet greens in this fairly classic combination:

Sauted Beet and Turnip Greens with Bacon and Legumes
Bunch of fresh beet greens
Bunch of fresh turnip greens
2 or 3 slices of thickly cut bacon
1/4 cup of dried or fresh legumes (see below)
salt and pepper
optional: dry white wine or vermouth

The first step in creating this dish is cooking the legumes. I think the best choice for this dish is cranberry beans, but I made this twice recently with flageolet beans and separately with christmas lima beans (top picture, they are like lima beans with a slight chestnut flavor) and enjoyed both. Cover the beans with an inch or so of cold water, bring to a boil for a few minutes, then lower to a very light simmer until tender (if dried beans, this can take 30 to 60 minutes or more, depending on age of beans). Optionally, you can add in a bay leaf, half an onion, and a crushed garlic clove.  When the beans are tender (a nibble on a cooled bean will tell you), drain and set aside until needed.

Thoroughly wash your greens and dry them with a kitchen towel.  Remove any greens that are yellow or very wilted.  Loosely chop them right before adding to the pan.

beet greens on the left, turnip greens on the right

Halve the bacon slices lengthwise, and the cut into 1/4 inch pieces. Cook in a large saute pan on medium-low heat until they are lightly browned but not yet crispy.  Chop and add the greens, then cover and cook for three minutes.  Uncover and stir in the beans (you don’t need to use all the beans — just enough so that you are happy with the proportions) along with a little salt and pepper.  Cook for another couple of minutes, stirring occasionally and adding a splash of white wine or vermouth if you are inclined.  The greens should not take long to cook — taste for salt and pepper and then serve.

The first time I made this, I paired it with pork loin covered in a basil and radish leaf pesto (more use of unusual greens, although for pesto I recommend parboiling and squeezing some of the moisture out of the radish leaves first).

Other Food Photos and Notes

• I made my favorite braise of the year (pork shoulder with ginger, fennel and citrus) when Stephane from Zen Can Cook and Claire from Colloquial Cookin’ came to visit us in the Catskills. I used too much broth and ended up with a sauce that did not live up to the original.  What I love about this dish is that it transforms fennel into something completely new and delicious, but I’m afraid I was a terrible and self-indulgent host by admitting my disappointment in not attaining complete perfection a few too many times.  Still, with those guests, I was understandably shooting high!

• I made another favorite braise recently (brisket in white wine) and this one was a slam dunk. Love that recipe.

• Lisl, Claire, Stephane and I collaborated on these little crostinis (above), which were quite nice. Claire and Stephane did the majority of the work, but they were basically as follows: the bread was toasted with garlic and olive oil, then topped with a flageolet bean puree (with herbs and butter), topped with some fresh fava beans (which next time I’d toss with a bit of vinegar), and finally with thinly sliced, aged asiago or pecorino and some salt and pepper.

• I grilled some berkshire pork chops with this dry rub (link) and knew I had done my job right when Stephane was twittering about it a few days later.  I paired this with a favorite simple salad of mine, as follows: parboil some fresh green beans (leave some crunch!) and then toss with cherry tomatoes and a shallot/olive oil/white wine vinegar/mustard dressing.

• Remember at the start of this behemoth post that I mentioned pavlova? Well there is a peek, and I’m working on Lisl to post the recipe.

We collected a whole bunch of violets from the lawn, but it turns out they were tasteless and scentless. Still, they were quite pretty!

Easter Sunday was a bit unusual for me this year.  I spent the morning with family, but ever-patient Lisl gave me special dispensation to spend the afternoon tromping around the woods with a bunch of other food bloggers collecting wild ramps, fiddleheads, stinging nettles, wild garlic, and more.  This outing was organized by Marc of No Recipes (who has a full write-up of the event and resulting menu on his blog, along with some great photos) and Jonathan of Lab 24/7.

(Clockwise from top-left: ramps; stinging nettles; fiddleheads; non-edible but pretty flowers)

I now understand the special appreciation people have for ramps.  Douse them in olive oil and sea salt and toss under the broiler for a few moments, and the results will make you go weak in the knees.  Since Sunday, I have also eaten pickled ramps, sauteed ramps with the drippings from a roast chicken, made ramp fritters (recipe below), and later this week will be making a ramp risotto.  One has to strike when the iron is hot!

Unfortunately, with a newborn at home, I was not able to partake in the amazing feast put on by Marc and crew (with the talents of Stephane from Zen Can Cook and Claire from Colloquial Cooking), so I am not able to speak to the taste of fiddleheads and stinging nettles, but at least I am now armed with the knowledge to forage such things in future!  I had a great time, however, and spending time in the kitchen with that team prepping the meal was a blast.  Now, I had mentioned ramp fritters had I not?

Ramp Fritters

Tonight’s recipe combines Richard Olney’s fritter batter with ramps, zucchini, parsley, and lemon. Beating the egg whites makes these feel quite light and decadent for something fried, and it is a technique I will use more often in future.

Fritter Batter
from Richard Olney’s Simple French Food
3/4 cup flour
2 eggs, separated with whites set aside
3/4 cup beer (I used Bass pale ale)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

Fritter mixture
15 small to medium ramps, cleaned (treatment below)
2 zucchini, peeled and grated
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 stem of wild garlic or a small garlic clove, finely minced
salt and pepper
juice from half a lemon
splash of olive oil

First create the base of the batter by combining the flour, egg yolks, beer, olive oil and salt in a bowl and whisk just enough to blend everything together smoothly.  Let rest for at least an hour, which according to Olney helps it better coat the items to be fried (this can be skipped given this recipe’s particular approach, but I did it anyway).

In a colander, thoroughly squeeze the moisture out of the grated zucchini with your hands.  Place in a bowl.  Finely chop the stems of the ramps, chop a fine chiffonade of the leaves, and add to the bowl.  Stir in the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Let this rest as well while the batter sits.

Beat the egg whites until the peaks hold, and fold them into the batter.  Gently stir the vegetables into the batter.

Heat up some olive oil (or a mixture or olive oil and vegetable/canola oil) in a large cast iron pan on medium-high heat, enough to well-coat the surface of the pan.  When a drop of water jumps and sizzles in the pan, you are ready.  With a decent-size soup spoon, place spoonfuls of batter around the pan, being careful not to overcrowd or let fritters touch each other.  Cook until golden brown on both sides, then remove to a drying rack or a plate with paper towel.

Serve with some fresh lemon juice and taste for salt and pepper. While I was not able to test this tonight, I also suspect that crème fraiche in addition to the lemon would make a wonderful complement to the fritters (a combination Marc used to good effect with the amuse bouche shortbreads he made).

- – -

I’m going to leave you with a shot of Stephane’s pickled ramps, which were heavenly, as an unsubtle attempt to peer-pressure him into blogging the spice ratios. These were so quickly devoured that they had to be hidden to save some for the evening’s pork belly dish. They also contributed to a killer martini.

Update: Liz from the Zested blog (wonderful photography), who I met that day, beat Stephane in getting the pickling recipe up. Check it out!

Also at dinner were Marc of No Recipes, his lovely partner Liz, and Stephane from Chefs Gone Wild. It is always fun meeting up with food bloggers and geeking out over food. I am always reminded how much I have yet to learn when it comes to food. That is one thing I love about cooking: there is an eternal learning curve and always new challenges around the bend (as long as you’re willing to shake things up a bit).

This was also a last outing before the new baby arrives, so I was enjoying my taste of freedom considerably! mmmm red wine. pork pie. red wine. pork pie.

Marc also whipped up a killer sticky toffee pudding, with rum-soaked dates, to go with the English theme. That’s him on the bottom left opening a stubborn bottle of vanilla with pliers. There is no stopping the MacGyver power of No Recipes.

Thank you Claire for a wonderful dinner, and get that pork pie recipe up!

Speed Meal: Corn and Zucchini Fritters

The Bill Granger corn fritters recipe, paired with a rice vinegar, jalapeno and sugar dipping sauce, was one of my favorite discoveries last year. A few nights ago, when work required a very fast meal thrown together, I went back to the recipe and was reminded how delicious and simple this is.

The ingredients are listed here [link], and on that page is also a link to The Wednesday Chef where I first discovered it.

This time around, I used a fresh green jalapeno for the dipping sauce. It is not as pretty, but tastes just as good. I also grated up two zucchinis to add to the mixture (squeezing the grated zucchini to reduce moisture), and swapped parsley for cilantro. Loved it.

The recipe is a synch. Toss the dipping sauce ingredients in a pot and let it cook down a bit. Toss the batter ingredients in a bowl and mix, then stir in the vegetables, and then cook in a heavy-bottomed pan (a big cast iron skillet is perfect) with a splash of oil.

We paired this with a simple salad and chilled prosecco. I was one happy camper.

This was tough to judge, as there were many interesting submissions and different styles, but someone did have to take the cookbook prize, and that would be Kelly of Sass and Veracity. We met Kelly several months ago via Foodbuzz, and quickly became fans of her blog. Her submission was a brined pork roast, served with mushroom-sage polenta and collard greens.

Sass and Veracity (Kelly)

Jugalbandi (Bee and Jai) created “tempeh chili con frijoles”, a vegan version of chili con carne. Love that photograph!

Stacey Snacks (Stacey) made a delicious-sounding pork shoulder ragu which she served on a bed of penne pasta.

Columbus Foodie (Becke) submitted an intriguing recipe: Transylvanian Goulash, which combines saurkraut, pork shoulder, and lots of spices.

Passionate About Baking (Deeba) made a chicken curry with fenungreek (Methi Murgh).

Family, Friends and Food (Patsy) braised beef short ribs with a mix of broth, tomatoes, rosemary, worcestershire, etc.

kopiaste (Ivy) cooked a Greek sofrito, a veal steak slowly cooked in a white wine, garlic and herb sauce, from the Greek island of Corfu.

What Smells So Good (Sarah) created a vegan version of pulled BBQ pork, using unripe jackfruit.

North Fork Foodie (Lisa) made a pulled pork sandwich with tangy apples and onions.

For the Love of Cooking (Pam) dropped a link in the comments section of the original post to this wonderful recipe for a Mexican-flavored beef stew, as well as a more traditional French-style beef stew.

Priya’s Easy N Tasty Recipes (Priya) created a spicy baked chicken with a Tandoori flavor.

Some recipes submitted didn’t *exactly* fit the parameters, but were quite interesting:

Fun and Food Cafe (Mansi) submitted an Indian-style Chana Masala (chickpea curry).

Dil Se submitted a finger millet porridge (ragi koozh).

Bengali Cuisine (Sudeshna) created a caramel pudding of bread crumbs, milk, eggs, and vanilla essence.

Finally, here is our own entry:

The Constables’ Larder (that’s us) braised a beef brisket with sweet peppers, carnival squash, slab bacon, cumin and paprika.

Thanks again to all the participants!