I recently read that if you save those orange peels and leave them to soak in vinegar for a few weeks, you will end up with a lovely smelling household cleaner. I am trying it, will let you know what happens! Has anyone else tried this?

Beating My Fear of Beets

As parents we tell our kids, "Try it, you may find that you like it." But secretly I’ve held onto some of my “yucks” without trying again.

Growing up – I thought beets just came in rings from a can. No wonder I didn’t like them and in restaurants they seem to bleed all over my iceberg…not my favorite lettuce, I might add. It was from my childhood “yucks” that it took me a long time to get over the realization that those beets totally undermined the taste and nutritional value of freshly grown organic beets. Turns out they’re bloodiness is symbolic of the fact that they’re extremely good for fighting heart and blood diseases. So I went around asking my beet loving friends how they handle.

Our school principal and esteemed foodie blogger told me that the easy way to roast beets is to wash them and wrap them in aluminum foil with just a few drops of water in a hot oven for about 45 minutes. Then the skin will sluff off and sprinkle with favorite vinegar and some salt. He said you can use it over the next few days.

My friend Sara doesn’t even wash them. She steams them on the stove for about 45 minutes. I tried it and lo and behold the skin DOES sluff right off. I  then cut it up with some heirloom tomatoes, sprinkled a little feta and balsamic and had an amazing salad. I found that the tang really offset the earthy flavor of the beet. Another friend of mine suggested that next time I add mandarin oranges or tangerine slices. I went online and it looks like someone came up with a great recipe with arugula, for crying out loud, YUM!

That sounded so good that I shaved a raw beet and threw it into the blender with all fruit I could find in the fridge. In went oranges, pears, strawberries, kiwi and frozen banana and the kids were sucking it down without any awareness of the root vegetable they turned their noses up at a few days earlier. Turns out the New York Times had a recipe for that all along. Hmmm, next time I might add granola.

When I think of my beet "yucks" I think of my brown bread upbringing and of the neighbors on the fifth floor of the New York apartment building where I grew up,  Seems like they always had borscht on the stove. The variety can range from one of eastern Europe to the other from beef shank to cabbage to dollops of sour cream. Hot borscht/ cold borscht/ day old borscht/ new borscht -- I managed to always say I had to be home for dinner when that family invited me to stay.   

But maybe I’ll find a pro to make it for me so I can have GOOD borscht and see if I can learn to distinguish it from the eastern European variations that scared me off as a kid. Similarly if you peruse online there are quite a few appetizing beet soup recipes but I like asking friends for their tried and true recipes best.    Got any to share?

 

Green Garlic Pesto

Don't be fooled by the green garlic in your bag..they are NOT green onions although they are frequently mistaken for them.  The young shoots of garlic, commonly called green garlic, is easy to turn into a flavorful spring "pesto" sauce.  This pesto keeps very well, covered and chilled up to 3 days or frozen up to 2 months.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound green garlic
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 cup pine nuts or pistachios
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup freshly shredded Pecorino cheese or other hard, flavorful grating cheese

Preparation:

1. Trim and discard root ends of green garlic. Finely chop green garlic, rinse thoroughly and pat or spin dry.
2. In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, cook vegetable oil, green garlic, and 1/2 tsp. salt until soft, about 3 minutes. Let cool to warm room temperature.
3. In a blender or food processor, pulse pine nuts or pistachios to chop. Set aside. Add green garlic and process, scraping down sides as necessary, until bright green and smooth. With motor running, drizzle in olive oil. Pulse in reserved nuts and cheese. Taste and add more salt if you like.

Makes enough Green Garlic Pesto to coat 1 pound linguine.

This week's goods: What's in your bag?

Kali will be sending out SavRaw's newsletter tomorrow, but she just sent over the list of goods for tomorrow and I wanted to pass it along:

Tangelos * Oro Blanco * Blood oranges * Oranges * Broccoli Rabe * Green Garlic * Fennel * Zucchini * Spinach * Green Leaf Lettuc * Celery * Candy Beets

Happy eating! :)