We Got the Beet

Weaning myself off of junk food may not be the easiest endeavor that I’ve undertaken. I’ve been addicted for quite some time, and old habits die hard. While I’ve never had much of a sweet tooth, I still enjoy sugar now and again. I’ve found a helpful and unlikely remedy for the removal of junk food from my diet: beets.

I often get the impression that the Beet Fan Club is a small but devoted group of beet fanatics. I love beets. I’ve loved beets for as long as I can remember eating them. Canned beets are a cheap and easy addition to salads, but the flavor is often lacking from sitting in the water for so long. At the supermarket, beets are seldom inexpensive. At my local supermarkets, beets are typically sold in bunches of about 3, for $3-4 per pound. Maybe it’s a deal when you figure in the cost of gas to bring the beets to the supermarket and all of the production, but I want more beets for my money.

This past Friday, I bought a bunch of beets from a very pleasant gentleman who was selling the extra that his family had. I gladly spent $1 for a bunch of about 8 small beets. When I came home, I grated one of them and had it with lettuce and vinaigrette. Tasty, but it was still missing something.

I had been thinking about the remaining beets sitting in my fridge and decided that today would be the day for a salad. I peeled the raw beets, which is easier than rubbing hot beets to get the skin off. I put them in a small pie plate, drizzled them with orange juice and salt, and then put them in a 350° oven for about 45 minutes. I wasn’t exactly timing them—I pulled them out of the oven when I could smell the juices start to burn. While they were still hot, I tossed them in a bit more orange juice. I quartered each beet in an attempt to get them to cool faster. I couldn’t wait. As soon as the steam stopped coming off of them, I started popping them into my mouth. Still warm, the natural sweetness enhanced by the orange juice.

I arranged some mixed lettuces on a plate, added the remaining beet quarters, then drizzled it all with the Stone House mustard vinaigrette. This was topped with the sweet and spicy pecans and the creamy feta that I’d picked up at the farmers’ market yesterday. I almost cried as I neared the end of my salad. While I still have more of the other ingredients, I’m out of beets! I don’t know if I’ll make it until tomorrow to get more! The feta producer apologized that he only had the large container of feta and asked if I’d be able to eat it all. As long as I can get my hands on more beets, it won’t be a problem. Who needs candy when there’s sweet deliciousness to be had in a beet?

The Beet Fan Club is always looking for more members. I will be retaining my lifelong membership and may even begin a recruiting campaign. Long live the beet!

The Best Mustard Makes the Best Vinaigrette

I have been cooking since I was 9 years old, when I joined my local 4-H chapter. I am professionally trained. But I start to sweat when I am asked to come up with a recipe. It’s not that I don’t have the ability to do so. I am just not a measurer. When explaining to someone how to make one of my dishes, it usually goes something like, “Dump in this until it looks the way you think it should. Add some of that. If it doesn’t taste right, add some more.” It has worked well for me so far. Until I am asked for the recipe.

I was asked to provide a recipe for a vinaigrette using the Stone House Mustard, about which I am always raving. And I did it! I devised a recipe for the vinaigrette that I would be proud to offer to others or with which to have my name associated. When making a vinaigrette (or anything, really) for my own private comsumption, I rarely follow standard vinaigrette measurements, which means using far less oil than what others before me have dictated. Since this recipe was for the sake of the general public, I opted to be slightly less radical. If you’re a vinaigrette purist, do not send me nasty emails about how the ratio of mustard is off, as the whole point is for some of the spotlight to be on the mustard. Please also bear in mind that this recipe was formulated specifically for the Stone House Mustard. If you make it with a different mustard, start with less. If you use a spicy brown mustard or Dijon mustard, you may also want to add a bit of sugar to tame it. The Stone House Mustard is sweet, with a hint of spiciness, which is why I didn’t add any sugar to this recipe. And, if you make this with a mustard other than Stone House and don’t care for it, you have only yourself to blame.

Stone House Mustard Vinaigrette
Makes about 1 ½ cups

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 shallot, minced
2 tbsp Stone House Mustard
½ teaspon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup light-flavored oil, such as canola or grapeseed oil

Combine all ingredients except for the oil in a bowl, stirring until the mustard dissolves. Whisking constantly, slowly pour in the oil. If the vinaigrette separates, whisk it to emulsify.

One of my recommended uses for the vinaigrette is to serve it with spinach, sliced apples or pears, candied walnuts, and blue cheese. That’s actually the salad that prompted the recipe. I like to keep a batch of the vinaigrette in a jar in the fridge. When it’s time for a salad, I give the jar a good shake to combine all the ingredients, then pour over the salad. It will easily keep for a month, which means always having dressing on hand.