My Mom is Ukrainian and grew up with her mother making everything from scratch and growing as much food as she could. Part of that legacy is this great cookbook that I have from the community where my Mom grew up. There's every recipe you could imagine, and a lot that use zucchini (Mock apple pie... with zucchini! Zucchini relish. Zucchini loaf. Zucchini muffins.) They must've been as prolific back then as they still are. It's still my go-to cookbook for when I have too much of something and want to transform it into something else.
So, of course, when I asked my Mom for her beet pickle recipe, she told me to look in Mossy River, and sure enough:
Love that it's called "Mom's Beet PIckles", very appropriate!
So, we've been having this problem at our house this year with beets. As in, Jon only started liking them a year ago, and we've been eating them in stir-fry, roasted veggies, salad, et cetera all winter... And still not making a dent in the pile in the crisper! I decided to make them into something so that I could be confident that they will not go to waste (or so that I can give them away... because you can give pickled beets away easily, but it's a lot harder to give away just... beets!).
So I made pickled beets (doubled the recipe above with 5-6 lbs of beets and it filled 6 pints). It was super easy. I roasted the beets the day before in a covered casserole dish with some water, and then put them back in the fridge until I was ready to peel them the next day. The peels just slip right off this way.
"While I do like turnips, sometimes I find them too "turnipy," if that makes sense. Determined not to waste my turnip from a previous week, I used it up in a soup tonight, and it turned out to be one of the best soups I've made in a while! So this is a good one for those of us who have let the turnip go slightly soft and need to use it up.
Simple Roasted Turnip Bisque
Serves 4-6 people, depending on hunger.
Keep in mind that all the measurements are strictly "give or take."
1 large turnip, peeled and chopped in large pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 onions, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
2 cups stock
3-4 cups water
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
A bit of coconut milk (optional but so good)
Salt & pepper
Roast the turnip with the olive oil in a 375 F oven for 1/2 hour or so.
Meanwhile, chop the carrots and onions and sautee them on medium heat with the butter in a large soup pot.
Once both carrots and onions are soft, add stock and water and bring to the boil.
Add the roasted turnip and the spices. Simmer for 1/2 hour or until the turnips are very soft.
Using either an immersion blender or a food processor in batches, process the soup until it's very smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings, and add salt and pepper as desired.
Top with a couple of tablespoons of coconut milk per bowl for ultimate satisfaction. Goes extremely well with some hearty rye bread topped with butter.
Might be a bit late in the season for wintery recipes such as these, but the weather outside says otherwise."
I had bought two pounds of ground lamb when I was delivering shares to Highland drive store house butchery last week, not knowing what I had wanted to make but wanting to cook more lamb. We made lamb burgers with half and since we had left over mashed potatoes with parsnips I made this shepherd's pie with the other pound. I also used up some of the yummy frozen veggies that we've been getting in our shares the last few weeks.
Shepherd's Pie
Combine in a pan an onion, a carrot, some grated celeriac, with some oil or butter. Saute until vegetables a tender. Then add some frozen mixed sweet peppers (cut a little smaller), and some sliced mushrooms if you have them.
Increase heat and add one pound of ground lamb or beef. Cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon until it looses it's pink colour, 5 to 10 minutes.
Stir in one tablespoon thickner. ie. flour, GF flour mix, potato starch. Cook a couple of minutes more.
Add:
a half cup or so beef or chicken broth (I happened to be cooking beef broth of the woodstove, so good for you!)
1/2 tsp dried thyme and/or rosemary
a pinch of grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
Reduce heat to low and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes.
Layer the lamb mixture in a pie plate, cast iron pan, or baking dish. Then add a layer of frozen peas (picked over and steamed), then the mashed potatoes. Scatter butter over the top.
Bake at 400 until the potatoes are browned and the dish is heated through, 30-35 minutes.
Slice the beets into thin slices. Toss with the olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, place one layer on a baking sheet.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until crisp. Cool on a wire rack until completely cool.
For the soy vinaigrette, blend 1/2 cup of grapeseed oil, 1 teaspoon of dark sesame oil, 3 tablespoons of unseasoned rice wine vinegar, and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce.
