Roasted Organic Golden Beets with Sundried Cranberries and Basil Vinagrette

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I love the organic golden beets.  They're relatively simple to make, I roast them like potatoes till soft, then peel off skins and slice. Then I make a simple basil , balsamic vinagrette to drizzle on top. So good and great for you.

Serves Four

• 1 bunch Golden beets
• pinches kosher salt
• pinches black pepper
• 1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar, plus extra for drizzling
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
• 2 tablespoons sun dried cranberries
• 1 teaspoon pure honey
• shots fresh orange juice

1. Preheat oven to 375. Split the beets in half and take off stems. Into a deep roasting dish, lay out beets, drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic, salt and pepper. Mix together and add about an inch of water to the bottom of pan. Cover with aluminum foil.
2. Roast till you can stick with a knife and they are tender approximately 30 minutes, turning once half way through cooking time.
3. When they are soft, remove from pan to a dish. With a dishtowel, remove the skins once they cool down a bit. This shouldn't be difficult. Then slice and put on platter.
4. Starting with the 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar in a bowl, drizzle in the 3 tbsp olive oil and whisk in the basil. Add a teaspoon of pure honey.
5. Drizzle the vinagrette over the beets add the cranberries and serve with salt and pepper to taste, can add some extra sprigs of basil and a squeeze of fresh orange juic

People are constantly asking me for my recipes.  The truth is, I don't really cook with recipes.  Everytime I make something, I do it differently as you can probably see from my pictures.  For instance , today I had no idea what to make for dinner.  About 4 pm I headed to my fave fish store to see what looked good.  I wanted those sweet scallops from Cape May, and decided on combining them with some large shrimp (they were nice enough) to clean them for me.  So, when the girl asked me what I was making, I really had no idea.
On the way home I stopped at our local farm for some local strawberrys and basil.  I had already been to one farm and bought about 2 tons of butternut, acorn and spaghetti squash for 59 cents a pound which is so reasonable.  I do this every year and store them in my garage, my daughter loves winter squash and I make tons of soups, stews, and sides with them.  Works for us.  So, I'm at the next farm and i see they have a bucket of lavender long eggplants for 3 bucks, got some yellow and white corn and a combo of their grape and cherry tomatoes.  Ok, still had no idea what i was making.

Come home to hub who reminds me we have a bottle of prosecco if I would make risotto.  Ok, perfect idea, I love making risotto, especially with a glass of wine, my kind of fun.  20 minutes and it's ready.  I knew I had chicken broth leftover from yesterday so perfect.  I decided on a green risotto with seared shrimp and scallops.
I made the fish simply in a cast iron skillet , with just a sprinkle of Old Bay and dusted them lightly in Wondra.  Oiled the pan lightly , made it real hot and seared the scallops on one side till brown and caramalized , then did the same to the other.  Took them off, put in the shrimp , seared them about 2 minutes on each side.  Done.  Squeezed lemon on them.

For the risotto.  Took out my Le Crueset heavy sauce pot and began the process .  You will need a big wooden stirring spoon for this.  I have my fave risotto pot and spoon for stirring.  Also good to have a ladle for adding the broth.

1/2 sweet onion -chopped
Tomatoes-a colorful variety of grape and cherry's cut up
2 cloves garlic smashed and chopped
3 handfuls or so of baby organic spinach combined with parsley  and basil into my mini food processor-whiz till pureed
2 ears of corn-cooked and strip off the kernels

3 cups of chicken broth-I simmered in a small pot on the back of the stove
1 cup of prosecco got added slowly but surely

1 cup arborio rice
1 -2 tbls extra virgin o.o.

1.  Saute onion in evoo along with some chopped fresh thyme for about 3 minutes
2.  Add rice stirring for about 2 minutes
3.  Stir in about 1 cup of broth, stirring gradually until liquid is absorbed, when it gets too dry continue to add broth or prosecco or a bit of both.
After 10 minutes stir in the green stuff, then add the cooked corn that you took off the cobs, and add the chopped tomatoes.  

4.  Keep on stirring , sipping, and adding broth and wine to the rice till liquid is absorbed   Keep this going for 20 minutes, then it should be done.

Note:  I used absolutely no butter or cream.  There was no need for it.  This risotto had so many layers of flavor and it was just wonderful.  A combination of creaminess, sweetness from the herbs, tomatoes and prosecco and crunch from the corn.  A small portion is not really that caloric.  This recipe serves 4.

 

It's harvest time at the local farms and we're seeing lots of nature's beautiful, colorful bounty.  Colorful tomatoes of all shapes and sizes as well as many different kinds of eggplants.  Here's some pictures of what I do with my finds at the farm this time of year.

Rather then making a huge mess, and breading and frying eggplants like so many of us do, in way too much oil, I simply slice them, peel, and cut in pieces about 1/4 inch thick.  Then i make a mixture of ev olive oil, and some dried italian herbs.  Then I brush them on both sides with this, and preheat the oven to high about 375-400.  Let them roast, and watch carefully, eggplants can be tricky to cook just right, and you don't want to brown them too much or too little.  Be patient, practice makes perfect.  When they're lightly brown on both sides remove to use in many recipes as I'll show you here.