Fall is around the corner if we have celeriac in the share–one of my favorite vegetables. Don’t be put off by it’s messy looks. Just trim it carefully and then cut it into thin french fry batons and pan fry it in olive oil. Sprinkle with salt when tender and enjoy. . or make the delicious salad with toasted filberts and lentils below. And add bit of jalapenos to most anything this week, if you’re not pickling them with carrots. A little would be good in the beet pesto, the slaw of course and particularly in the chicken dish. Happy cooking!
Beet Pesto
Warm Celeriac and Green Lentil Salad with Toasted Hazelnuts
Escarole, Beet and Feta Salad with Cumin
Roasted Sweet Peppers with Garlic and Parsley
Simple Italian-style Chicken with Peppers and Tomatoes
Kale and Carrot Slaw with Garlic Lime Dressing
Escabeche
Beet Pesto
This is a delicious and beautiful variation on regular pesto. And if you have cooked or roasted beets on hand it’s very quick to pull together. You can serve over grains, hardboiled eggs or other egg dishes or roasted veggies or as a spread or dip. I don’t tend to use it over pasta, however, as somehow the even pink coating doesn’t seem quite right to me.
Yields about 1 1/2 cups
1 1/2 cups cooked, diced beets
Generous handful of walnuts, toasted or raw (or hazelnuts or almonds)
1 small clove garlic
About ¼ -1/3 cup grated Parmesan or other hard cheese
¼ cup good-tasting olive oil, more to taste
Salt and pepper
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice or 1 teaspoon of cider, white wine or sherry vinegar
Process the cheese and nuts first until finely ground. Then add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Adjust seasoning to your liking.
Warm Celeriac and Green Lentil Salad with Toasted Hazelnuts
–adapted from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
This dish is substantial enough to make a light main course. The earthy flavors of the nuts and the lentils are balanced by the sharpness of the vinegar and the fresh mint. Don’t skimp on the salt – lentils need a lot of it. You can serve this warm or at room temperature.
Serves 4
1/3 cup hazelnuts, roasted and roughly chopped (optional but very good)
1 cup small French green lentils
(these hold up well when cooked and are thus good for salads—don’t use the larger, brown lentils as they’ll get too mushy)
3 cups water
2 bay leaves
Sprigs fresh thyme
1 small celery root, peeled and cut into ¾-inch x 1/4 –inch chips
(more or less)
Salt and pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons fresh mint, roughly chopped (or parsley)
Put the lentils, water, bay leaves and thyme sprigs in a small saucepan. Simmer for about 20-22 minutes, or until the lentils are tender but just a bit al dente, then drain in a sieve. Remove and discard the bay leaves and the thyme sprigs.
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, bring plenty of salted water to a boil, add the celery root, and simmer for 8-10 minutes, or until just tender. Drain.
In a large bowl, mix the hot lentils (make sure they don’t cool down – lentils soak up flavors much better when they’re hot) with the olive oil, the vinegar, a few grinds of black pepper and plenty of salt. Add the celery root, stir, taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Add the mint and hazelnuts and stir again.
Escarole/Lettuce with Beets, Feta and Toasted Cumin
If you still have escarole left over (it does keep rather well!) you might make this early in the week or use some of your regular lettuce.
Serves 4-6
3 medium beets, boiled (or roasted), peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
6 cups (more or less) washed, chopped escarole or lettuce
1/4 cups thinly sliced red onion (or scallions or other onion or shallot)
1 1/2 ounces feta, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon whole cumin seeds, toasted in a small dry skillet until fragrant and a shade darker, about 2 minutes (watch carefully as they burn quickly)
2 teaspoons (or more) sherry or red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons good olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
In a large salad bowl toss everything but the beets and feta together well. Add the beets and feta and toss again gently. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Roasted Sweet Peppers with Parsley and Garlic
This is the way sweet red peppers are prepared in many parts of Italy. It’s very simple and very good. This dish keeps well in the fridge for 4-5 days so make extra and enjoy it for a while. And use however much parsley and garlic you like. It’s really a matter of taste.
4 sweet (red, yellow, green) peppers
10 sprigs of parsley, big stems discarded, chopped
1 medium clove garlic, minced
Good-tasting olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Set oven to broil.
Rinse peppers. Place them on a baking sheet and place about 4-6 inches under the broiler. Broil, turning as one side blisters and turns black. When they are blackened all around remove from oven, place in a bowl and cover with a dishtowel. Let steam and cool until you can handle them. Remove the stems and seeds. Chop into large-ish pieces (1 ½ – 2-inch square). Toss in a bowl with the remainder of the ingredients. Adjust seasoning. Let sit to let flavors marry for 15 minutes if you can. Serve with bread, cheese, grilled anything, salads, a frittata, etc. . . Great on sandwiches as well.
Simple Italian-style Chicken with Peppers and Tomatoes
This is a simple and delicious preparation that just needs a salad or some good crusty bread to make a meal.
Serves 4-6
3-4 sweet yellow or red peppers
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 chicken, cut into 10 pieces
¾ cup dry white wine
1- 1 ½ lbs tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup halved, pitted, cured black olives (optional)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Chopped fresh parsley, optional
Preheat the broiler. Roast the peppers, turning until all sides are blackened and blistered. Remove from oven and put in a bowl, covered by a plate to steam. When cool enough to handle, peel and seed and cut into strips.
Heat the oil in large, deep skillet. Add the chicken pieces, working in batches if you need to, and cook, turning to brown all sides. Return all the chicken to the pan (if you had to work in batches) and season generously with salt and pepper, add the garlic and the wine and cook until most of the wine has evaporated. Stir in the tomatoes and peppers and simmer, loosely covered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the olives, if using, and cook another 5 or so minutes until the chicken is tender and cooked through. If the sauce is too thin for your taste (as it sometimes is for mine) remove the chicken pieces and keep covered on a plate and reduce the sauce on high heat for a few minutes. Then put the chicken back in.
Serve with some chopped fresh parsley if you have it.
Kale and Carrot Slaw with Garlic Lime Dressing
This is a nice alternative to a cabbage slaw. You can change the ratio of vegetables to suit your needs.
1 small to medium bunch kale, tough stems removed (I leave the ribs in), washed, dried and very thinly sliced
3 small to medium carrots, scrubbed well and grated on large holes of box grater
4 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced or 1 small shallot or small piece of onion of any kind, thinly sliced
1 sweet pepper, washed and seeded and thinly sliced (optional)
1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped (parsley and/or mint would be good too)
Dressing:
1 large clove garlic, minced and then mashed with a bit of coarse salt on the cutting board with the side of a chefs knife to create a coarse paste (skip this step if you’re in a hurry)
Juice of 1 lime or 1 1/2 tablespoons white, cider or red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 a jalapeño, minced (deseeded if you want less heat)
1/3 cup or more good olive oil
1/3 – 1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds (about 10 minutes at 350 degrees)
Toss all the salad ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Toss dressing with salad and mix well to incorporate. Taste and adjust seasoning.
This salad holds up well and you can dress it an hour or more before serving. I tend to add the toasted seeds right before serving to preserve their crunch but adding them earlier is fine too.
Pickled Jalapenos and Carrots (Escabeche)
–adapted from Davidlebovitz.com
This is the ubiquitous spicy, pickled condiment found in many parts of Mexico, called escabeche (that name describes many different kinds of dishes around the world, not just this one). It’s a bright, hot pickle to have on hand and is a cinch to make. I use it on tacos, with bean and grain salads with seafood or meat or eggs. . . .once you have it you’ll find plenty of uses for it. You can easily halve this recipe if you don’t have enough peppers or just want a smaller batch.
About 1/2 lb jalapenos (8-9 peppers typically), sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
3 medium carrots, scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch rounds
1/2 medium red onion, cut into 1/4-inch slices
Brine:
4 small garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black pepper corns
2 teaspoons fresh oregano leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
3/4 cup water
You’ll need four 1/2 pint glass jars.
Heat the brine ingredients in a non-reactive saucepan until it simmers and the sugar and salt have dissolved. Add the vegetables and stir well and simmer for 2 minutes. Turn the heat off and let the vegetables sit in the hot brine for 10 minutes. Fill the clean jars with the vegetables and press down and cover with brine. Store in the refrigerator.