Wonky on Wednesday

Had my second chemo treatment in this series and have been  sort of  wonky ever since  we got home, asleep more than awake so will have to make this a short blog entry. Or not.  Sometimes I talk too much even when tired.

Yesterday was rainy and windy all day so  didn't get any work done outside except to check on the new seedlings and other plants in the greenhouse and refill the bird feeders. I had gotten most of the   living room carpet vacuumed when I  made a wrong twisting move and threw my hip out, so didn't get much more done in the way of housecleaning, either. I did get some ironing down and  some cooking, thanks in part to the lovely surprise that came via UPS yesterday. But  by the time we'd finished supper I was too tired to  do my usual blog post and went to bed early. So here's part of what I would have posted, had I been awake enough to do so :-)

When we   were watching the  Jacques Pépin cooking show, Heart and Soul, on  our local  Public Television channel a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I had  quite a few  of Jacques' books, but not the one for that series. Unbeknownst to me, Mr. G  went online and ordered it. It came yesterday.  He   wrote on the  box, "Happy Anniversary, Birthday, and Maybe Merry Christmas." I  didn't quite know how to take that, so I asked him if he gave it to me early because he  thought I wouldn't live another  few months  to celebrate our anniversary or my birthday, but he assured me that was not the case, that he just wanted to get it while he was thinking about it and then not forget where he'd put it. I can believe that because his mother had a habit of buying birthday presents for people, hiding them away and  then forgetting where she'd put them. I can't remember how many times  she told me she'd bought me a birthday present but  forgot where it was. I got a lot of birthday presents four months late,  usually on Christmas. Since I'm convinced the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree, I accept Mr. G's explanation.

Here's a pic of the title page from the  cookbook. There are wonderful recipes, beautiful photographs of the food, and of Jacques  enjoying food and fun with his friends and family. I just discovered that Jacques Pépin is also an artist in  a medium other than food- the  whimsical  roosters are just some of his original artwork scattered throughout the book.

I used a recipe for velvet spinach from the new book.  I liked that very much.  Mr. G not so much- he says  he prefers  my  old recipe for creamed spinach. Oh, well.  The rest of our meal  was prepared using  recipes from another Pépin cookbook, More Fast Food My Way.  The Pork medallions with grapes in  pomegranate sauce were oh, so tender and delicious.  And the Apple maple topping served over butter pecan ice cream- what can I say?! Here's a pic of the apples bubbling away on the stove.  Can you smell that delicious scent of  maple syrup, apples and  just outright deliciousness- which I'm convinced has a  scent all its own.

Energized by the beautiful weather

Today was another beautiful day.  The temperature  got up to seventy degrees Fahrenheit and it truly felt like spring.  I got some more seeds planted, then Mr. G and I did a little yard work.  Mostly  it was Mr. G. doing he work, trimming shrubs and raking up pine cones and branches that had fallen in the wind and rain, although I served as consultant on the pruning and   bagged up  my fair share of pine cones. Then  the girls and I went for a little walk enjoying the  weather and the scents and sights, which included   some  flowers  blooming and some about to burst into bloom.

 The spring-like weather  must have energized me because I wasn't the  least bit tired   when it was time to cook supper. I  used a menu and recipes from the Pollan Family cookbook: Easy chicken Parmesan with fresh mozzarella, roasted asparagus with frizzled shallots and for dessert, raspberry pudding cake.

I began with the pudding cake, greasing a square pan and heating the oven.   I mixed up the  batter, then cooked the raspberries in a syrup along with some raspberry preserves. Here you can see the batter ready to go in the pan, and the syrup  cooking on the stove in the two top pictures. The botton pictures show the raspberry syrup poured on top of the batter in the pan, ready to go in the oven, then the  finished pudding cake.  Which, if I do say so myself, was quite delicious! 

  The chicken Parmesan with the roast asparagus  was supposed to look like this photo from the cookbook:

 But mine looked like this. Definitley  in need of a beauty makeover or a food stylist! It may not have looked beautiful  but the chicken was  very tender, and quite spicy, but not too spicy, while the asparagus, although it looks a little overcooked was very good-  a little crisp but not at all tough or stringy and very easy to chew.  i cooked some extra cutlets, so we'll probably have them again tomorrow night, along with some more  freshly roasted asparagus.

My 5-FU pump is now a heat pump!

Day two  of being tethered to the portable 5-FU infusion pump. I've found it's easier for me to wear it like a  handbag across my chest than around my waist. The strap  rubbed across my collar bone, though,  making it sore, so Mr. G cut a foam strip and taped it to the strap which takes the pressure off. I haven't felt as much fatigue today, but did  take a nap this afternoon and have been pacing myself.

The one really uncomfortable thing has been heat building up in my face-I had forgotten  that from last time.  It felt as though I was running a fever and  slowly heating from the inside out, although the temperature reading I took was perfectly normal, maybe even a little low. The heat finally manifested itself this afternoon just before supper  when my face and neck  turned  bright red as though I'd been out in the sun too long.  It felt like  I had just opened the door to a very hot oven and stuck my face inside! Maybe this is how chemo brain  happens-  so much heat builds up inside your head that your brain cells begin to boil! I kid you not- it got THAT hot! Needless to say, I decided NOT to cook anything for supper that required heating in the oven! Besides, I needed something  that could be put together quickly so  there would be plenty of time  to eat and then watch the Democratic debate tonight.

I opted to do a redux of  a Pollan cookbook recipe from a couple of weeks ago: Creamy spinach pasta alfredo with crispy pancetta. I had bought diced pancetta so didn't need to cut that, but I  was able to  use my brand new chef's knife to chop the spinach and mince the garlic- worked like a charm, and was very comfortable to use, just as the  description said.
The  pasta  turned out very nicely, was  a one-dish meal (except for the extra pot to  cook the  pasta, as Mr. G pointed out to me after he'd washed the dishes).  I also used a spoon form the new utensil set I bought with the chef's knife. The long handle on the spoons allows you to  stir   without  getting steam burns,  an important  consideration for clumsy cooks, and unlike my  long handled spoon with the metal handle,  the  handle stays cool to the touch. Here's a pic of the  new utensil set- $4.95 for the  set- a bargain , I thought.

And here's a pic of the pasta, ready to serve.  It went together  quite quickly and we  had time to eat in a  leisurely fashion before   time for the debate.

The pump comes off tomorrow.  The time should run out early since I was hooked up a few hours earlier than usual.  Maybe Mr. G will be able to unhook me  and still have time to get in a little fly fishing tomorrow.  The weather is supposed to be a little warmer and the power company will be turning the generators off   at the trout stream   mid-morning. Some fresh trout for supper tomorrow would be a good thing, I think! 

A discourse on dinner and dentures

Today I had to abandon part of my planned dinner menu. I was  using another of Annabel Langbein's menu suggestions. But I forgot one crucial  fact:  She is younger than Mr. G and me and probably has all, or at least most, of her own teeth. I began cooking the poor man's version of  Osso Buco-  with beef shanks rather than the more expensive veal shanks.  To accompany it, Annabel suggested saffron spinach risotto,  beet, fennel and goat cheese salad with balsamic glaze, and for dessert,  pear and prune custard  cream.

The osso  buco  was coming along nicely when I began to prepare the salad.  Annabel wrote that the secret to   beets and fennel in a salad  is to slice them  very, very thinly with a mandoline. So I peeled a beet, as instructed, and  sliced it almost paper thin.  Then I tried to chew a piece.  It was like  trying to eat paper! I have seen those commercials for denture adhesive  where some smiling person declares, "I can eat anything!"  HA!! It simply ain't so, at least not for Mr. G and me.  I cannot tell you how many times I have  had to make a hasty exit from the dinner table because my bottom denture has decided to  assert its right to freedom and tried to escape from my mouth. It makes dinner conversation nigh on impossible and causes those across from me to wish they'd never  accepted the dinner invitation to begin with! And it doesn't matter what kind of adhesive I've used, or how recently I had the dentures relined-  at some point, while eating some foods, they are going to become totally unbalanced,  begin to rock, and   attempt an escape. The  thinly sliced raw beet had this effect, so I decided to abandon the raw beet and fennel salad and use them in a cooked dish  in the next few days instead..

The osso buco was  coming along nicely, but I decided to check on  the beef shank  after an hour.  Good grief!  It was mostly bone, sinew and gristle, with very little edible  meat.  I trimmed off the inedible  parts and decided we needed more meat. I had a few meatballs left over from last night's meatballs in Moroccan tomato sauce, so  tossed them in.  The  spinach saffron risotto was delicious,  the  osso buco caught Mr. G's fancy and he got seconds of both.

 I experimented with an Asian pear in the pear and prune custard, which was a mistake. It wasn't  all that bad, but next time I'll use Bartlett pears or something similar, I think. At least I've satisfied my curiosity about what Asian pears taste like, how they hold up in baking, etc.

It  occurred to me as we were finishing supper that I hadn't taken any pics tonight.  It's a good thing I'm not a serious food blogger! I did take some pics the other night as I prepared a meal of cod in olive tomato crust and skillet broccoli, but didn't  post about that meal because my muse had gone on a walk-about. But if you're curious, as several people on facebook seemed to be, about  what a cod loin is, or even if a cod can have loins, here are some pics of the ingredients prepped, processed into a paste, then used to coat the cod loins  before they're placed under the broiler for a few minutes. That  meal was  quite tasty and I should have posted about it instead of complaining  about an AWOL muse!

The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley

Tonight's scheme for supper was a delicious meal from the Annabel Langbein cookbook. But did it ever go agley! And get ugly to boot!   I worked hard to make it look and taste good, I really did. It seemed so easy and flawless when Annabel prepared it on TV, and it looked wonderful in the cookbook. Maybe I need to take a course in food styling or hire a food stylist or get a better photo editing program or something,  because I don't  think potatoes rosti look all that appealing when they're mostly grey, with  some burned bits here and there and a few flecks of green that you  think  are parsley but can't really be sure about, given the overall appearance.

Supper was to be  flash roasted pesto salmon, potato rosti, and braised fennel with lemon.See how lovely the finished  potatoes  look in the book: beautiful and creamy with bright green flecks of parsley, surrounded by   a perfectly   cooked golden layer of deliciousness? And the braised fennel-- again a lovely creamy color with  bright green flecks of parsley.  Oh, how I was looking forward to  presenting a meal of such beauty and  watching Mr. G gaze in wonder at  my glorious creation!

Everything began well enough.  Evening rain was predicted, so I had, earlier in the day, gathered some basil and parsley from the greenhouse and   put the  stalks in water to keep them fresh.  I'd roasted some pine nuts and had them standing by, chopped some garlic,and grated some Parmesan. They all went in the blender with some olive oil and out came a lovely pesto- it looked and smelled delicious! Then it all began to go downhill.

The potato recipe called for peeling and grating the potatoes. In the process of grating them I also
grated one of my fingers, which bled profusely. While I was stemming the flow of blood and trying to find the Neosporin and Band-Aids, the grated potatoes were just sitting there, getting surly and turning a rather  nasty color.  Once the finger was bandaged up, I  squeezed the moisture out of the now discolored potatoes as directed and proceeded with the recipe, which called for adding  chopped parsley.  

I mentioned in my last post  how  hopeless I am with a knife.  So I don't use one to chop parsley or other herbs. I use a wonderful little gadget called a mezzaluna- a rocking blade with  a wooden handle that makes  quick work of mincing  parsley or  most anything else. It's perfect for knife-challenged folks like me.  I have an addiction to kitchen gadgetry.  Most of the gadgets get used a few times then  are relegated to the back of a gadget drawer and forgotten.   This one however, is very useful and gets used a lot.

The potatoes were now formed into the disc-shaped portions called for, drizzled with olive

oil and ready to be popped into the oven. I began to tackle the fennel. Again,  opting to  use a knife substitute to slice the fennel into "thin segments lengthwise" as directed in the recipe, I used  a mandoline. However, "thin" is a relative term, and my  sliced fennel was much thinner than the fennel pictured in the book. Consequently, it browned much more and much faster than I anticipated, leaving a lot of brown bits in the skillet. When I added the freshly squeezed lemon juice and water,  the liquid  immediately turned brown. Meanwhile, the potatoes were in the oven, turning grey. This did not bode well.

The salmon didn't look too bad, in fact , it was quite nice looking.  Placed on a parchment covered baking sheet,  given a generous coating of pesto, surrounded by cherry tomatoes and capers, then drizzled with oil, it looked pretty darn good I thought. The   pink salmon,   green pesto and cheerful little red tomatoes complemented each other well .It got popped into a hot (425ºF) oven for  6-8 minutes and came out still looking pretty good.


However,  everything else lost something in  translation when  it all got together on the plate, as you can see.

The colors were off, so the presentation was sorely lacking, and as I said, when  you cut into the potatoes they were sort of gray and unappetizing inside.  The fennel looked OK but Mr. G said it  had way too much lemon and I think he's right.  The fennel is definitely worth trying again, but with less lemon, and the salmon was quite delicious and  is  worth repeating. The potatoes, on the other hand, were really not worth the trouble and I will leave them to    more skilled cooks like Annabel.

Oh, well.  Sometimes it all works, sometimes it doesn't. I still wonder, though, could  a food stylist  have made it look a little more  appetizing? I doubt it. Maybe  our next meal will be more photogenic and a little less lemony.  Hope springs eternal.

Pasta, Pancetta and Prepping

Tonight's supper was another recipe from the  Pollan Family Table: creamy spinach pasta alfredo with crispy pancetta.  Oh my-  it was very, very tasty! I  forgot to take a pic, but here's the recipe page from the cookbook.   Our supper looked almost just like   the picture.

The recipe called for  frozen chopped spinach but I have a "thing" about frozen spinach.  It  is chopped with stems and all and I much prefer to by fresh spinach and remove the stems.  With older spinach I also like to remove the   hard spine and even when  we buy baby spinach there  always seems to be a fair amount of older larger  leaves with  tough spines.  Stemming  the spinach takes longer  but in my opinion is well worth the effort. Blanching  the leaves, squeezing out the  moisture and chopping the spinach takes only a few minutes and to me just tastes better than frozen spinach.

I also much prefer to  grate my own Parmesan cheese and  nutmeg because they taste so much fresher and better to me. But one  time and work saver I did use tonight was  already  diced pancetta.  I saw it   last time we were in Publix and thought I'd try it.  I'm glad I did, it was excellent and seemed to brown much better and faster than  when  I've hacked at it myself in an attempt to dice it.  Did I tell you I am  hopeless with a knife?  It's one of those skills like  swimming or riding a bike  that I was never able to master despite the efforts of some very dedicated instructors.  The poor souls tried everything they knew to help me get past my clumsiness before finally throwing their hands up in desperation and giving up.  So I am a hacker with a knife rather than a slicer,  dicer, chopper or a mincer, and the pancetta was spared from a torturous end on my cutting board, thanks to Publix.

I used another trick to peel the garlic called for in the recipe:  put the cloves in a  jar ( I used a plastic smoothie  glass with a lid that came with my blender)  with a lid and shake vigorously.  The  skin falls off and  the garlic is peeled with little or no effort on your part and no garlic smell on your hands!  You're welcome! 

The dish came together  quite nicely.  It was quick, delicious, and   called for a minimal number of pots, pans and utensils. The latter alone is enough to elicit a five star rating from Mr. G., who has taken over  dish washing duties. He frequently mutters under his breath about how, based on the number of  dirty dishes confronting him,  anybody would think I was  cooking for an army instead of two people. He just doesn't  appreciate the concept of mis en place and all the extra  little bowls that hold the prepped ingredients. Tonight,  there were only three little bowls, one saucepan, one skillet, a spatula, wooden spoon, colander for draining both the spinach and pasta, two plates and  knives and forks. We were both happy and there was a minimum of muttering, thank goodness! 

Come along and follow me to the bottom of the sea

We'll join in the Jamboree
At the Codfish ball.

OK, to be honest, we didn't go fishing, attend a  ball or even  eat codfish balls, but we did have cod for supper tonight. I used a recipe published in Bon Appetit in 2006: Baked Cod and Potatoes with Horseradish Cream Sauce. It's an easy recipe, with a minimum of dirty pots and pans and it gives me a chance to  hone my skills on the mandoline. 
 I have never been able to slice potatoes or anything else into perfectly even slices, which is  why I love my mandoline- it lets me slice a potato or  a bushel of potatoes, or other veggies into slices of exactly the same thickness so they cook evenly. And the best part is, I haven't sliced off a finger yet! My mandoline is a French-made Bron that does many things I haven't yet had the nerve to ask it to do (fear of finger-loss), but  any  good, sharp mandoline   will do the same thing, I'm sure. Here's a picture of it in action with the red potatoes for tonight's meal:

 You just set the blade for the thickness you want,  set the hand guard on its guide rails, position the potato (I cut the larger ones in half so they are easier to fit in the hopper of the hand guard) and begin slicing.  It's  best to use a steady, fast motion maintaining the proper pressure as you slide the guard. 

In no time at all  you potato slices that are of  an even thickness.

I dipped the potato slices in a mixture of mayonnaise,  mustard with horseradish and lemon  juice,  then, after  shaking the excess mixture off the potato slices, placed them in a single layer on a baking sheet and baked them in a 400 º oven for about 13 minutes, until they  were just beginning to turn brown.  

Meanwhile, I dipped  two cod fillets in the same mixture, then sprinkled them with salt and pepper and placed them on  a baking sheet and baked for another  10 minutes or so until the flesh was opaque and tender. The timing will depend somewhat on the thickness of the fish.  I placed the   potatoes on the plates and topped them with the fish. I served  creamed spinach with this.

I think I might try to jazz up the sauce a little next time, it seemed  somewhat blander than I like a sauce to be-- especially one with horseradish!  Otherwise, it made a nice, easy meal. The lighting  was not good for these pics and they aren't the best quality, but they give a fair idea of how it turned out, I hope.

And about the song lyrics that opened this post- - they are the from the song, Catfish Ball, featured in the 1936 movie,  Captain January, starring  Shirley Temple (I had forgotten just how  cute and talented she was!). Here's a video of her performing the song.  See if you can guess who her dance partner is :-)
 

Gorgonzola, Gorgonzola, three cheers for the green, white and blue

I  love blue cheese, except maybe for Limburger, which is a little too smelly, even for my taste. But Stilton, Roquefort, Danish blue, Gorgonzola-- I love them.  Especially Gorgonzola. Last week I had some that needed to be used up, along with some Mascarpone and a package of  Prosciutto.   So I combined them with some linguine, spinach, garlic and herbs and made something  quite  tasty and satisfying.

 I   had  about 4 oz. of  fresh baby spinach from Owl's Hollow Farm, a  hydroponic farm  near Gadsden, Alabama. Even though the spinach is young and tender, I still like to stem it, because I don't like stems in my spinach.  It's an extra step, but I find it a worthwhile one. I love adding Mascarpone to dishes like this for the creaminess it imparts.  I began by stemming, rinsing and drying the spinach, then  putting the water on to boil for the linguine.   You could use another pasta such as penne, fusilli, cavatappi, etc. but I had linguine on hand, so that's what I used. Here's the recipe. Let me know if you try it and enjoy it or have any suggestions for improvement.

1/4  lb. pasta
4-6 oz.  fresh baby spinach, stemmed, rinsed and dried
3 oz. pkg thinly sliced Prosciutto, cut into strips
1/4 lb crumbled Gorgonzola
1/2 Tbsp  minced garlic
1/2 Tbsp  dried basil
1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 oz. Mascarpone cheese
salt & pepper to taste
  Cook pasta until al dente according to  directions on package.  While pasta is cooking, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a heavy skillet.  Add prosciutto, garlic,  basil and oregano, stirring to combine and cook over medium high heat until  lightly browned, about  two minutes. Remove from heat and add spinach,  tossing to combine. The heat will wilt the spinach. Drain cooked  pasta and return to  pot. Add remaining tablespoon of olive oil,  prosciutto spinach mixture from skillet, Mascarpone and Gorgonzola.  Toss until  well combined and cheeses are melted.  Add  salt and pepper to taste and serve. 

If you, too, are a fan of Gorgonzola you might enjoy listening to this old Leslie Sarony Gorgonzola song from the 1920s:

Cooking Under Pressure

For years, I'd read  and heard about using a pressure cooker to can foods and speed  up the cooking process but had always been afraid to  try it myself.  I had visions of  explosions of green beans and  beef stew splattering the ceilings and  blowing out the  kitchen windows! I had a water bath canner for making pickles and jams and for canning tomatoes and saw no need for a dangerous  pressure canner with its dire warnings about seals and gaskets, valves and pressure settings. One Christmas, Mr. G  even bought me a lovely All American pressure canner with dials and valves but  no intimidating gasket, with the idea that I  could can  green beans and other veggies from the  garden and farmer's market and  put up  jars of chicken stock. I was unconvinced.  That canner has   been sitting, unused,  in its box on a shelf in the basement for several years now.

But then a  year or so ago, I read about  electric pressure cookers, and for some reason, they, with their friendly  digital displays and blinking lights, didn't scare me as much.  So  I bought one, and , with instruction/recipe booklet in hand,  made  one of the  tenderest,  most delicious beef pot roasts we have ever eaten! And in  less than an hour, from start to finish, WITHOUT blowing up the house!. I was hooked! Since then I've cooked soups, stews, chowders,  short ribs, pork chops, chicken with dumplings and many other dishes and have plans  to try out  many other recipes, including cheesecakes and other desserts.

My latest "meal under pressure"  was Sausages with Onions and Peppers, adapted from the Cuisinart  recipe booklet that came with the cooker. This calls for the following ingredients for  4 servings:
 4-6 oz.  Bucatini Pasta or other pasta, cooked according to  directions on package.
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1-19 oz. package of Italian sausages,  each cut into three sections (I used Johnsonville Mild  Italian sausages)
2  small to medium green bell peppers and 1 red bell pepper, seeded and  sliced into rings.
 1 large sweet onion,  cut into vertical slices
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 Tbsp Italian herb blend
1/2 cup  organic chicken broth or stock
salt & pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to directions on package.

Add olive oil to cooking pot of pressure cooker. Select browning and when  oil is hot, add sausages, being careful not to overcrowd.  If necessary, cook sausages in batches and remove to a plate as each batch is browned. Cook until brown on all sides, about 3-5 minutes.

Add peppers, onions, garlic and Italian seasoning  to pot and stir for 2-3 minutes.

 Stir in chicken stock and cook for   one minute. Return the sausages and any accumulated juices back to the pot and stir gently to mix  in with the other ingredients.

 Cover with the lid and lock the lid in place.  Cook at high pressure for 4 minutes.

 Use  quick pressure release to release pressure and remove lid carefully, allowing steam to disperse.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm with lid off until ready to serve.

Serve over  pasta.  Enjoy!

More Adventures in Cooking

We've been picking summer squash from the garden for a couple of weeks now, and the bush beans are coming in, too! Not very many at a time, but enough to make a meal for the two of us. This is today's harvest:



I used some of our yellow squash last Sunday in a recipe from Tables of Content, the newest cookbook from the Junior league of Birmingham. It's a lovely book; not only are the recipes very good, but the book contains photographs of the "tables" of food in landmark settings in and around Birmingham such as Sloss Furnaces, the zoo and botanical gardens, with information about the landmarks. The squash casserole was quite delicious, as are most of the recipes I've tried from the book. This recipe serves 6 to 8; I halved it for us and adjusted the cooking time accordingly.

Best Squash Casserole

10 yellow squash

2 eggs

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix

1 cup (4 oz.) shredded mild cheddar cheese

1/3 cup chopped green onions (optional)

12 butter crackers, finely crushed

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Shredded mild cheddar cheese to taste(optional)

8 butter crackers, finely crushed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine the squash with enough water to generously cover in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil 10 minutes or until tender and drain. Let stand until cool and slice. Drain the sliced squash in a colander, pressing with the back of a spoon to extract any remaining moisture. The cooked squash should measure 5 cups.

Beat the eggs in a bowl until blended. Stir in the mayonnaise and salad dressing mix. Fold in the squash, 1 cup cheese, the green onions, 12 crushed crackers, the garlic salt and pepper. Spoon the squash mixture into a 2-quart baking dish and sprinkle with additional cheese and 8 crushed crackers. Bake for 30 minutes.

,

The beets from Saturday's trip to the farmers market provided roasted beets using a recipe from The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook another of my favorite cook books that gets a lot of use. Growing up, I never cared much for beets . We always had them either boiled or pickled, but since discovering roasted beets, I love them. They have an entirely different, deep flavor, and this recipe really brings out the delicious beet taste:

Roasted Beets with Warm Dijon Vinaigrette

3 pounds medium beets with greens

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/3 cup sliced green onions

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/3 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon minced fresh dill

Leave root and 1-inch stem on beets; reserve greens. Scrub beets with a vegetable brush. Drizzle beets with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Roast beets in a small roasing pan at 400 degrees for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until tender.

Meanwhile, process green onions, vinegar and mustard in a food processor until smooth, stopping once to scrape down sides. Pour 1/3 cup olive oil through food chute with processor running, processing until smooth. Place vinegar mixture in a small saucepan; cook over low heat until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally.

Wash beet greens thoroughly; pat dry with paper towels. Cut greens into thin strips. Place beet greens in a medium saucepan; cover with water, and add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered 10 minutes. Drain well. Set aside; keep warm.

Cool roasted beets. Trim off roots and stems, and rub off skins. Cut beets into 1/4 inch slices.

Place greens and beets on individual serving plates; top evenly with vinegar mixture. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper and dill. Serve immediately. Yield: 6 servings.

Note: I halved this recipe, too, but won't do that again because the small amount of vinaigrette dressing was hard to process and heat properly.