Chocolate Roasted Beet Pudding Cake

This is a tested recipe from Canelle Vanille and it's fantastic.

Truly, beautifully fantastic.

And it uses up lots of beets, which I love and need desperately.

Chocolate Roasted Beet Pudding Cake

The One of Chili

The original recipe for this chili, which comes from the hallowed halls of Sunset magazine, is very good, but I made a single crucial amendment to the recipe that, for me, brought it to all new heights.

Much like Neo was The One where The Matrix was concerned, well, this chili became The One where chili was concerned. 

I think you'll appreciate the crucial amendment, too: homecanned tomatoes. 

I use only my homecanned tomatoes in place of storebought canned tomatoes and, holy mackerel, it makes me want to smack my lips. In fact, I do believe that I DO smack my lips when I eat this chili. Which is often, in the winter months, because it is also one of my favorite things to make.

It's a handy one pot dish (as most chilis are) and it's so satisfying to compile that it just pleases me on all levels.

That's a lot of love from one dinner, so it gets a special place in my book. Right next to The Best Sauce Ever. Yep. and this Chocolate Beet Cake.

Just to forewarn the meat fearful out there - this is not a vegetarian chili recipe. And for those who are bean fearful - this is not a beanless recipe, but you can make it one by just...wait for it...not adding beans.

The One of Chili

Adapted from Smoky Beef and Bacon Chili from Sunset Magazine

My changes in bold 

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

2 slices thick-cut peppered bacon, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika 
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
About 1 tsp. salt
1 can (14.5 oz.) homegrown tomatoes
8 oz. of homemade tomato sauce
1 bottle of India Pale Ale beer (gluten fearful? Use a gluten-free beer.)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire
1 can (14.5 oz.) pinto beans, drained (bean fearful people, this is what I was talking about)
Sour cream and grated cheddar for topping

To make

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat, cook bacon, stirring until it just begins to brown, about 4 minutes. 

Add onion, lower heat to medium, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, 4 to 7 minutes. 

Uncover pan, stir in garlic, and cook 1 minute.

Increase heat to medium-high and add ground beef; break it up with a wooden spoon and stir gently until it loses its raw color, 6 to 8 minutes. 

Stir in spices and 1 tsp. salt and cook 1 minute. 

Add homecanned tomatoes, homemade tomato sauce, beer and Worcestershire and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover partially and cook 30 minutes.

Add beans and cook 10 minutes, uncovered. (Bean fearfuls - you get to skip this step.) 

Season to taste with additional salt. Serve warm, with toppings on the side.

And in case you want some direction on the toppings, I'd go with sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, chopped green onions and some crispy bacon. 

But I bet you could have thought that up on your own. Sorry, I was fantasizing. 

Bacon chard

If you don't know it already, chard scares me.

It's magical growing powers are, well, magical and it will grow under most conditions as long as it has sun, healthy soil and some means of hydration.

But that's not the only magical thing about chard. No, it also has some magical fibrous properties that lend well to regularity.

I'm sorry. I just don't know how to share that fact delicately, but it's a part of life, so let's just all accept it and move on to how to work more chard into our diets as palatably as possible, shall we?

Bacon chard

Ingredients
About 8 big chard leaves, sliced into ribbons
3-4 strips of country bacon, chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne pepper

To make
Over medium-high heat, brown your chopped bacon with a little oil until it's toasty.

Then dump in your chard. It will cover the pan in a scary way, but that's OK. As it heats it will wilt and then you can turn it with your tongs.

Add salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste and once the whole mess of chard is wilted (about 4 minutes), transfer to a plate and serve warm.

Good eating, my regular friends. 

The Best Sauce Ever. Yep.

I know it sounds like big talk - just having one tomato sauce recipe for every purpose, but I tell you, it's just that good. In fact, it's known in my house as The Best Sauce Ever. Yep. and I believe that it is. 

I've used this sauce to toss with pasta, gnocchi, in lasagna, in eggplant Parmesan, over ravioli, mixed with chopped greens like chard and kale, simmered with some meatballs and - I won't lie to you - I've even just eaten it with a spoon.

For the past five years I have loved no other tomato sauce and life has been great.

I dare you to make this sauce with your homegrown tomatoes and then try to tell me it's not the tastiest tomato sauce you've ever eaten. 

I DOUBLE DARE YOU.

The Best Sauce Ever. Yep.

Ingredients:
4-5 large ripe fresh garden tomatoes, sliced into 1" rounds
4 good sized fresh basil leaves
1 head of garlic, top chopped off
1/3 cup red wine (I usually use a Cabernet)
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

To make:
Preheat oven to 450.

Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil and then coat the foil with some olive oil. 

Place the prepped garlic head on another piece of foil and drizzle some oil on the top cut end of the garlic and add a bit of salt. Wrap the foil around it into a nice package. Put it in the middle of the baking sheet.

Place your tomato rounds in a single layer on the baking sheet around the garlic. Drizzle all the tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. 

Roast it all into the oven for 30 minutes.

That blackness is what you want to see when you take the tomatoes out of the oven.

Pull out the food processor and add all the tomatoes (they'll be a bit charred and maybe a little grabby when trying to peel them from the foil - try hard). Unwrap the garlic and squeeze in the cloves (they'll be like paste - it's cool). Add the wine, basil and salt/pepper as you like it.

Puree the whole mess until it's one even consistency and no giant basil bits are jamming around in there.

Like I said before, you can toss it with some pasta, stew it with some meatballs, add a bit of cream and serve over gnocchi - seriously, whatever. Or just eat it out of the Cuisinart with your spoon because it's so good you won't care that you just ate sauce for dinner while standing in the kitchen.

Asian coleslaw

I don't know about you guys, but I'm not a big fan of mayo. 

Sure, spread it LIGHTLY on some toasted bread for a tomato sandwich, but I'm not stirring a giant wad of it into the shredded beauty of fresh cabbage and carrots. 

I'm just not doing it.

But I do love coleslaw. If only because it's a really good way to use up a lot of beautiful cabbage.

This coleslaw recipe employs none of the mayo craziness that your typical coleslaw calls for and I find it to be an awesome accompaniment to Asian dishes of all kinds. Or just boring dishes that need a fancy sidekick to give it some direction.

You know, like frozen pot stickers from Trader Joe's. 

Seriously - I do that. There's no shame in frozen pot stickers, sorry GYOZA, from Trader Joe's.

Enjoy your mayo-free coleslaw.

Asian coleslaw

Ingredients

1/2 head green (or red! be wild like that!) cabbage, shredded

2 carrots, julienned

2 green onions, julienned

A few sprigs of cilantro

1 lime, juiced

4 T soy sauce

2 T sesame oil

Salt/pepper to your taste

 

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. Then throw in the cabbage, carrots, cilantro and onions. Toss it all together and set it aside.

 

This actually tastes best when it's been allowed to sit around and get tossed every once in a while. 

 

Just don't let it sit around too long. The cabbage will get limp and start to smell...strange. Give it about 10 minutes and then have at it.

 

Good eating. 

Fresh Veg Spring Rolls with dipping sauces

Fresh Veg Spring Rolls with Dipping Sauces & Asian Coleslaw

 

Serves 2

Ingredients

Spring rolls

8 rice wrappers  

1 serving of rice vermicelli

3 small carrots, julienned

3 green onions, julienned

Bunch of cilantro, rinsed

Bunch of mint leaves, rinsed

8 Lettuce leaves, rinsed

Dipping sauce

4 t fish sauce

2 T fresh lime juice

1 clove garlic, minced

2 T sugar

1/2 t garlic chili sauce

3 T hoisin sauce

1 t finely chopped peanuts

To make

Spring rolls

Prepare vermicelli according to package directions and don't forget to rinse with cold water and set aside to drain well.

Fill a large shallow bowl with warm water. Dip one wrapper into the hot water for a second to soften. Lay it flat, add a lettuce leaf and then fill with a few strips each of carrots and onion, some vermicelli, a spring of cilantro and a few mint leaves leaving about 2 inches of open space on either side of your veg pile. Fold uncovered sides inward, then tightly roll the wrapper. You don't have to tuck in the ends. That's a dirty, dirty rumor.

Do all this over and over until you run out of stuff. You'll have about 8 rolls. 

Dipping sauce

Mix everything except the peanuts and hoisin together in one bowl. Then mix the hoisin and peanuts in another bowl. DONE!

BBQ pork loin stuffed with chard

As is a theme in much of my cooking with chard, I tend to mask its ever presence with meat of some kind.

Usually pork.

This time I used pork.

Big surprise!

This is a recipe adapted from the fine couple over at White on Rice and you should really check them out, too, because they have a lot of amazing recipes and silliness.

BBQ Pork Loin Stuffed w/ Swiss Chard
Adapted from the pages of White on Rice Couple

Serves 3

Ingredients
3 Boneless Pork Loin Chops (or similar cut (@ 1″ thick). Ask your butcher to slice pockets into the chops for you. They'll do a better job with their fancy sharp knives and skills.

Marinade Ingredients:
2 T Garlic (crushed)
½ T Sugar
½ t Salt
1 t Ground cumin
2 T Soy sauce
1 t Sesame oil
½ cup Grapeseed oil

Stuffing Ingredients:

7 Large chard leaves, ribboned and stems removed
2-3 cloves Garlic, crushed
2 Shallots, diced
1 cup Pineapple, diced
1 T Grapeseed oil
1 T Sesame oil
Sea salt
Fresh cracked black pepper

To make

Preheat BBQ for direct grilling

Combine marinade ingredients, then marinade pork for 30 min.

Bring pot of water to boil, add sea salt to taste, then boil swiss chard for 3-5 minutes. Drain, place in a ice bath until cool, then drain again. Squeeze out the excess water.

Heat grapeseed oil in pan over medium-high heat, add garlic and shallots and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add chard and sesame oil, sauté for another minute or so, then add the pineapple. Remove from heat and season with sea salt and pepper. Let it cool a bit.

Remove pork from marinade. Stuff with chard mixture, then place on a pre-heated BBQ. Grill for about 4-5 minutes on each side, controlling BBQ heat so it isn’t scorchingly hot. Remove from the grill & eat with grilled corn on the cob and a giant salad from your garden greens that are running amok.

Good eating, chard lovers and chard fearful alike.

Beet towers with herbed goat cheese and oranges

Beet towers with herbed goat cheese and oranges

Adapted from Modern Beet's Beet Towers with Farmer's Cheese and Oranges

Ingredients
All the beets you want (I had 3), washed, greens removed
1 small orange of whatever variety
~ 2-4 T. herby goat cheese
Black Pepper

To make

Preheat oven to 450. 

Wrap beets in a foil packet and roast for about 1 hour, or until beets are tender and can be easily pierced with a knife. Carefully open foil packets and allow to cool (this can be done up to a day in advance).

When beets are cool enough to handle, slip off skins and trim top of beet so that it is a flat surface. 

Place the beets on their sides and slice into 1/3 inch or so slices, keeping the slices in order.

Cut the bottom and top off the orange, then peel using a serrated knife to cut away the peel and all of the white pith. Cut the orange into thin slices — count the number of beet slices that you have, then cut that many orange slices, minus two.

Place the bottom slice of one beet on a plate or small cutting board. Take about 1-1.5 t. goat cheese and spread it evenly over beet slice. Top with orange slice. Sprinkle the layer with a small amount of pepper. Place the next beet slice on top of the orange, and repeat layering process — beet, cheese, orange, pepper — until you’ve used the whole beet. Repeat as many times as you need to in order to stack all your beets.

Citrus salad with goat cheese

Have you met mizuna? It's a frilly little salad green found often in Asian dishes. It also does well cooked into hot dishes.

If you have a tajine, you should become friends with mizuna as they play nice together.

Meanwhile, this is not a tajine recipe, nor an Asian recipe. Just something thrown together from the contents of the garden on a spring evening.

Citrus salad with goat cheese

Serves 2
Ingredients
Bunch of mizuna
2 oranges, peeled, cut into small wedges
1/4 cup of crumbled goat cheese
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

To make:
Rinse the mizuna really well, making sure to knock off any remnant dirt from the farm. Trim off excess stalk at the end. Fill a couple bowls with the mizuna, add goat cheese and oranges, pour on a bit of olive oil, a bit of salt and a healthy grind of pepper.

I like a lot of pepper on this. It's good with the sweet oranges and smoky goat cheese. 

Happy feasting.