Make Do

Hello!  It's me!  Tonight's dinner was Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Golden Beets with Speck and Gruyere!

Improvising a meal is easy.  You take two (or more) of your favorite meals and you put them together in one bowl and hope for the best.  As my dad says, "It all looks the same in your stomach."  In some cases that could be a really bad idea (like hamburger milkshakes or broccoli ice cream), but in this case it was awesome.  The sweet dirtiness of roasted brussels sprouts and beets complimented the smokey speck, and the gruyere was sharp enough to keep it interesting.  Here's what you'll need:

10-20 Brussels Sprouts
4 Golden Beets
1/4 lb. Speck  (or Proscuitto)
A handful of Gruyere
Some Olive Oil

Preheat the oven to 425˚.  Cut the Brussels Sprouts in half lengthwise and put them on a pan.  Peel the Golden Beets and cut them to be roughly the same size as the Brussels Sprouts, then put them on the same pan.  Drizzle Olive Oil over the vegetables, sprinkle some salt on top, and put them in the oven for 30-40 minutes.  Cut the Speck into 1/2" squares.  Grate the Gruyere.  When the B.S. and Beets are done, put everything in a bowl and mix it all up.  Serve warm.  It's pretty good cold too.

Improvisation is probably the most important skill for home cooking, so use it often and don't be afraid to screw it up!  Thanks for reading!  Peace!

Give Me A Beet

Perhaps it's a result of years and years of not eating meat, but when I make dinner the vegetable still seems to be the main course.
For dinner we invited our dear friend John and his visiting guest.  I broke rule number one for having dinner guests and I made something I had never made before.
I roasted whole beets encrusted in salt. Preparing beets this way brings out a truly delicious beet flavor and a velvety texture (supposedly).

I heated the oven to 375 ish and buried large beets in sea salt, though I probably should have used a coarser salt.
I slow roasted the beets for about two hours.

When they were tender (I just stuck a skewer in to test), I pulled them out and cracked the salt open cut into these precious beets.  Thank goodness for my sweet guests they were, as reported, delicious! The texture was superb.
As side dish (or back-up) I roasted a chicken.
Nick and I make a really simple chicken. We pat dry the bird, sprinkle with salt and roast at 450 for an hour.  That's it.  It's amazing.
I also made a cheesy polenta with chard.
Prepare polenta on the stove top (1 part polenta to 3 parts water)
I usually saute some diced onion and garlic before adding the water, then bring the water to a boil and stir in the polenta.  Stir.  When the polenta is thick and creamy I will add cheese, chard, and any other spice to taste.  Pop it in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or so, until the cheese starts to brown.
Dinner came together beautifully, roasted beets, with a side of chicken and polenta.
When our guests arrived I was sadly informed that John hated beets.  He agreed to taste a little, then he ate an entire beet.

I'd say that's a successful dinner.

So Cold We Eat Our Salads Warm

It has been so cold that all I seem to think is warm warm warm, especially when it's time to prepare dinner.
It is easy to neglect our leafy greens and vegetables when you think like that.  So I made leafy greens and vegetables dinner, only warm.

Peel and chop some carrots and beets (and garlic), drizzle with olive oil and roast until tender, 30 minutes or so.

When they're ready and still hot, toss them with arugula- so the leaves wilt just a little- and fresh goat cheese. I drizzled the whole mess with a little balsamic and served it warm (alongside a sausage, of course).