Tomato and Beet Salad - Recipe

Tomato and Beet Salad with Feta and Mint

This is one of those dishes that is good out of all proportion to the difficulty of making it, which is virtually nil. It is totally dependent on using great tomatoes and olive oil, and home-cooked beets (don't even think about using canned). The only thing you need is enough foresight to boil the beets and have them cool in time for dinner, which you can easily do a day or two before.

I've given a rough recipe below, but really you can just make this by eye. You want roughly the same volume of beets and tomatoes, cut into nice bite sized wedges. Toss them with a generous amount of delicious oil and flaky sea salt, top with some crumbled feta and fresh mint and you are good to go.

When you boil beets, leave the peel on and the root and a little bit of stem intact. This will reduce the amount of "bleeding" into the pot. Test them for doneness by poking with a knife or cake tester. When they are tender, let them cool completely and then slip their jackets right off. I like to make a bunch and then use them for several days. Roasted beets would be fine in this salad as well.

You could also experiment with other herbs such as thyme, oregano, tarragon or chives instead of the mint.

Tomato and Beet Salad
Vegetarian and gluten-free; vegan if you omit the feta (or substitute for it)
Makes about 6 cups

• 3 cups bite sized wedges of perfect ripe tomatoes (at room temp)
• 3 cups bite sized wedges of boiled, peeled and cooled beets (at room temp)
• 6 tablespoons best-quality, fruity extra-virgin olive oil
• sea salt
• black pepper
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• handful of fresh mint leaves, chiffonade

1. Toss the tomatoes and beets with the olive oil, a couple big pinches of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Taste and add salt and more oil as needed.
2. Put the vegetables in a wide, low serving bowl. Top with the feta and mint and serve immediately.

 

 

A Funny Little Cheese Course - Recipe

This was just pure play. I wanted to see if I could do a cheese course that would look like cheesecake, but not be particularly sweet. I landed on a Laura Chenel chevre with a little salty crust and strawberry granita.

A cheese course, like an amuse bouche or a tapa is an opportunity to be a little less constrained, because you don't need to make something that would be appropriate in an entree-sized portion. You can use bold flavors and surprising combinations without rapidly tiring the palate.

The strawberry component has one ingredient: strawberries. I just pureed the heck out of them and then made a simple granita by stirring/raking them with a fork every 15 minutes or so until frozen. The stirring keeps the ice crystals small and smooth. Needless to say you want to use exceptional strawberries for this; don't even bother if you only have hard tasteless berries that made a 2000 mile trip to your grocery store.

I wanted to pay homage to the classic graham cracker crust of a cheesecake, but go salty instead of sweet. I landed on coarsely pulverized rice crackers and mini-pretzels with a little butter, fennel pollen and black pepper.

Goat Cheese with Strawberry Granita and a Pretzel Crust
Vegetarian
Serves 4 as a cheese course

• 1 cup strawberries, hulled
• 25 g. rice crackers (I used the wafer-shaped ones from Trader Joe's)
• 10 g. mini-pretzels
• 25 g. unsalted butter
• big pinch of fennel pollen
• few grinds black pepper
• 3/4 c. chevre (preferably Laura Chenel brand)

1. Puree the strawberries thoroughly. Place them in a shallow plastic container in your freezer. Every fifteen minutes or so, give them a stir with a fork, raking through the ice crystals to break them up. In about two hours or less you should have a nicely frozen granita.
2. In a mini food processor, combine the rice crackers, pretzels, butter, fennel pollen and black pepper. Process until you have fairly uniform small crunchy bits, say 1/4 - 1/2 the size of a grain of puffed rice cereal. Taste and mix in a little more salt if needed.
3. To serve, spray or rub a 1" ring mold with a light coating of oil and place it on a plate. Press in a 1/2" layer of the crust mixture. Top that with 3 tablespoons of the chevre, again, presing it into the mold, then gently push the "cheesecake" out of the mold. Repeat for the remaining plates. Remove the granita from the freezer and scrape it with the fork again to restore the texture. Top each plate with a tablespoon or so of the granita and serve immediately.

Savory Chickpea Cakes - Recipe

Chickpea cakes (fritters) with tomato jam

These little chickpea cakes are versatile; you can serve them as an appetizer, a side dish on an entree plate, or as the protein-packed star of the show. They are somewhat like a pan-fried falafel, but without the benefit of a deep-fried crust, so we amp up the internal flavoring. Try them with this tomato jam for a big flavor combination.

The basic recipe is vegetarian. You could use an egg-replacer if you'd like it to be vegan, and gluten-free breadcrumbs and alternative flour if you want it to be gluten-free.

I also think it would be good with the ratio of breadcrumbs to flour reversed, for a lighter consistency, but I haven't tried it.

Chickpea Cakes
Makes about 16 small cakes
Vegetarian (vegan if you use an egg-replacer)

• 3 cups cooked chickpeas (two 15 oz. cans, drained and rinsed)
• 1/2 cup green onions, minced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 t. minced rosemary leaves
• 3/4 t. salt
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup homemade breadcrumbs 
• 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
• oil for shallow frying
• sea salt (ideally Maldon or fleur de sel) for finishing

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and buzz until you have a fairly uniform mixture, but before it is completely pureed. We want some texture left. You should be able to form it into a ball that holds its shape. It should be neither crumbly nor a batter. Add liquid or breadcrumbs as necessary to find the right moisture level. If you don't mind tasting raw egg, taste a bit and adjust the seasoning as needed.
2. Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large skillet, preferably cast-iron, over a medium-high flame. Take a golf-ball sized piece of dough, press it in your hands into a flattened 3-inch patty and place in the skillet. Repeat with as many as will fit comfortably. Fry on one side until golden brown, about 3 minutes, then flip and brown the other side. Remove to paper towels and finish with a little bit of sea salt.