A Study of Beets – Part Three

Soon I plan to have a poll on the blog. I’m going to ask you to pick one of three books to be featured each of the 25 weeks of the regular CSA season. I am using beets to sample each of the books I’d like to feature in the upcoming season because we got a lot of them in our second 40 pound vegetable box, I still have some.

Book #3
“The Flavor Bible” by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg
This is an index of ingredients and what pairs well with them. I was thinking of taking a vegetable each week and sharing the highlighted ingredients that pair well with it.
This book is invaluable to me. We don’t like nutmeg at our house, whenever a recipe calls for it, I consult this book and find out other spices that also go well with the main ingredients. Or, if I want to make my generic muffin recipe and I’m not sure a flavor combination will work, I check this book. This book is the best!

Pairs well with beets…

Butter, unsalted
Cheese: goat, parmesan
Lemon
Mustard, Dijon
Olive Oil
Orange
Pepper
Salt
Shallots
Tarragon
Vinegar
Walnuts

The list from the book is much longer. The above ingredients are both bold and capitalized, meaning many of the chefs contributing to this book designated these flavor pairing. Other designations are only bold or regular type. The list for beets has 86 items.

To highlight this book I came up with a recipe, Beet Vinaigrette. I really enjoyed this dressing. It is very reminiscent of raspberry vinaigrette. It works really well with a salad that has craisins in it.

Beet Vinaigrette

I used this recipe as a base vinaigrette recipe.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/cafe-green-salad-recipe/index.html

1-2 T finely grated beets
¼ t ground coriander
¼ t ground cumin
¼ t grated ginger
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 t Dijon mustard
3 t balsamic vinegar
6-8 T extra virgin olive oil

In a large mixing bowl combine beets, coriander, cumin ginger, salt and pepper, mustard, vinegar. Mix together well. (I have a tool that is a masher/whisk – perfect for this job!). Add oil 1 T at a time, combining thoroughly each time. When the dressing reaches the viscosity you like stop adding oil.

NOTES:
Here is my basic muffin recipe…
http://purplecook.blogspot.com/2011/01/muffins.html

Here are the other two beet studies…
http://purplecook.blogspot.com/2011/02/study-of-beets-part-one.html

http://purplecook.blogspot.com/2011/03/study-of-beets-part-two.html