Just Say Yes to Beets!

This weekend, the New York Times had a bit of a beet love-fest, including a recipe for beet and beet green risotto, and a lovely Mediterranean beet salad with yogurt. I could not resist the beet salad recipe so I tossed it together this evening. Messing about with beets is a really wonderful thing, largely because of their color. They bleed that rich purple all over the place. I'm always a little nervous that it will stain the countertop, or even more importantly, the white vintage Saarinen dining room table which I adore with all my heart. In spite of my fears, I can't resist them. The rich juice coming off these beets reminded me of another use for beets which I haven't explored in some time. That would be their use in sweet dishes like cakes. I'll tackle that after the salad...

From the NYTimes:
Begin with 4 medium size roasted beets.
Slice the beets any which way you like, and marinate for a few hours to overnight in a couple of tablespoons of your favorite vinegar (I used rice vinegar, and Persimmon will track you down and kill you if you use balsamic), a tsp of sugar, and two tbsp of olive oil, with a bit of salt and black pepper.

Make a half cup of lebne. This is basically drained yogurt, preferably Bulgarian or Greek style. I put it in a coffee filter over a strainer and let it drip away into a pot for a few hours, or overnight. Mix the lebne with some salt, some very finely minced garlic to taste, and a minced tablespoon of dill or mint (I used mint).

Drain the beets, cover with the lebne, sprinkle another tablespoon of the minced herbs on top, and serve.

I'm a little tired now so I won't go much further with this post until tomorrow when I will describe the mysterious role of beets in the origins of that fine Southern delicacy, the Red Velvet Cake...

The Unruly Vegetable Plot

I am an unruly and undisciplined gardener. By this I do not mean that I leave my tools all around, and cannot be bothered with picking them up. I am just not a very systematic gardener. Straight rows bore me, and I like the occasional vagrant rainbow Swiss Chard plant asserting its presence among lettuces or potatoes. I have beans curling their way up my olive tree, and sweet peas attaching themselves to my rosemary bush. I like surprises. I chuck flower seeds all around my vegetable plots, and let my radicchios grow to seed because radicchio flowers are just the prettiest blue coloured flora I’ve ever seen. I know there are rules to companion planting, and I am aware of crop rotation and the three sisters method but I have this preference for just planting against the grain. I tend to leave nature to do her work. If it grows, it grows. I like my vegetable plots to be impressionist tapestries, with color drifts -- being inspired by the writing of Gertrude Jekyll (her, on flowers).

I am a non-pesticide gardener. I just believe my vegetables taste a lot better and the plants which survive the onslaught of weather, pests, and fungi are just a little more hardy and delicious. Flowers attract insects, and this year, I’ve been simply amazed by the insect life around me. I have had little problems with blackfly simply because ladybirds are like juggernaut eaters of blackfly. Flowers attract ladybirds. I have also noticed the corresponding reduction of aphids and leafhoppers, to increased bee and hoverfly activity. The best protection against slugs is occasional slug-hunts at night with a torchlight. My neighbours think I’m nuts. In England, if you do have a little garden, keep a hedgehog or two, as they eat slugs. At the same time, you are giving hedgehogs protection (http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/). Slugs do not care for territory or personal possession or your efforts in nurturing your lettuces, they just help themselves. Don’t feel too sorry for slugs. They have no consideration for you.

While my kitchen garden is being constructed, I have had to make do with very limited space this year. So this is helpful for those with limited spaces. I grew Broadbeans in a pot this year and despite my initial skepticism, the six plants (all in the same pot) yielded sweeter than ever beans. This was advised by my seed provider Robinsons, a champion show vegetable grower. I tried this method for the first time, and the plants grew more vigorously than those I had grown in the soil. This year we attempted the potato barrel for similar reasons of limited space. We grew our favourite salad potatoes, fir pinks (one of the oldest heritage varieties in the UK) in the barrel and had our first taste yesterday. They were stunning. The point is, you can grow potatoes in garbage bags or barrels. New potatoes are simply worth it.

There is nothing more pleasurable than the taste of new potatoes and freshly picked beans -- straight from the garden to your pot. Salad potatoes are lovely with a drenching of very good olive oil, and covered in young chives, chervil, parsley or/and mint, all chopped very fine. Add coarse salt (fleur de sel would be perfect), ground pepper to taste. Serve slightly warm. Broad beans are a classic dish when done in a parsley sauce (a friend, Simon swears by beans and parsley sauce) but we love the beans cooked with summer savory (very good for companion planting). Just boil the beans, cooked in butter with a little chopped garlic and sprigs of summer savory. The savory gives the dish a little bitter flavouring. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Note. Fir Pinks are wondrous potatoes, not easily obtained in supermarkets. As potato crops go, they would not be 'economical' because their yield is too small for commercial purposes, and they require a longer growing season. They do not look like your standard potato and are knobby, thus not easily peeled. They are best eaten with their skin on. They have a nutty taste, and are absolutely delicious. Your first taste of fir pinks will leave you feeling somewhat frustrated, from the lack of availability of these potatoes to the bitter knowledge of how agribusiness has bred out taste to service mass supermarket demand.