Beet and Barley Risotto

Waking up Saturday morning, my heavy eyes flickering open to the new day’s light, I saw a glow through my window. No, it wasn’t the brightening orange of crisp autumn like a warm filter in my windowpane. It was something a little more…unexpected. I woke up to a blinding whiteness that casts iridescent glimmers across my walls. A frosty fogginess not much unlike the way heaven might feel. It was the morning light reflecting off a fresh 5 inches of snow. Yes, in Virginia we had snow in October, a sight I have never seen in 21 years of my life.

It ruined the Halloween plans of many yet caused a sudden bout of holiday spirit and I embarrassingly found myself humming Christmas music throughout the day. It was a day to wrap up in a blanket, sip a warm cup of tea, and cuddle up with the heater vent like it’s our last day on earth together. But above all it was a day where baking cookies was absolutely necessary and long, slow comfort food a must. It would have been a good day for something like this beet and barley risotto.

I like to think of this dish as the perfect way to celebrate the first frost. It uses up the very last of late summer beets and incorporates that fresh flavor before winter comes along and we are stuck in the long days of meat, beans, and potatoes. Yet its warmth, richness, and creaminess are comforting enough to take off a serious chill.

It’s as simple as any other risotto. While the beets idly cook away in the oven, the barley and onions take a nice bubbling bath in wine and stock, slowly soaking up the liquid until swelled and tender. The natural starches lend silkiness without a single addition of cream necessary.  But or course, a fine grating of parmesan cheese, folded and melted within, just adds that little extra touch of gooeyness. And finally, the beets are diced and stirred in, transforming the dish into mass if brilliant rubies. It’s topped with crumbled goat cheese, which melts into the risotto in pockets of tangy, cheesy sauce, and balsamic reduction syrup for a sweet-tart kick.

It’s one of those dishes where I couldn’t wait for leftovers the next day, and the day after that. It has this special way of filling up the heart with love and comfort yet its deceivingly healthy and full of vitamins and protein. It slowly heats you from the outside as you stand over the pot stirring away, loving each and every piece of barley in sight and then from the inside as the warm grains slide down the throat. A first-snow dish for sure.

Beet and Barley Risotto
adapted from imagalicious
serves 4

I know that some people are a little iffy about beets so this could also work with butternut squash. The same goes for the barley; if you prefer risotto with traditional Arborio rice, it’s perfectly fine to use that. My big tip for this dish is to start the beets way ahead of time. You never know how long they’ll take and if they are big like mine were, it could take up to two hours.

Ingredients
2 medium sized beets
1 cup pearl barley, rinsed
1 sweet onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
½ cup dry white wine
1 quart vegetable or organic chicken stock
½ cup grated Parmesan
salt and pepper

to serve
balsamic reduction (recipe follows)
goat cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Scrub the outside of the beets under cold water. Dry and rub with olive oil and salt. Place in a foil parcel and bake in the oven for about 90 minutes or until tender all the way through.

Heat the stock to a simmer in a saucepan. In a deep frying pan or pot, heat the olive oil and cook the onion along with a teaspoon each of salt and pepper until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a minute more. Add in the barley and stir to coat and continue to cook for one more minute. Add the white wine and stir. Once the wine is evaporated, add a few ladlefuls of the warm stock and stir. Let the barley continue to cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally so that nothing sticks to the bottom. Every time the liquid is fully absorbed and things look dry add a few more ladlefuls of stock until all of the stock runs out. The process will take about 40 minutes.

When the beets are cooked, remove them from the oven and let cool slightly. Remove the skin and dice into fairly small pieces. Add to the risotto along with the Parmesan and stir until everything is bright red. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

To serve, place in a bowl and top with a crumbling of goat cheese and a drizzle of the balsamic reduction.

Balsamic reduction
Ingredients
½ cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs. brown sugar

Mix the two ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula until reduced by half and syrupy. Remove from the heat. Use right away or store in the refrigerator and reheat as needed.

Halloween Soufflé

Halloween. I’m not sure what to say about Halloween without offending a large number of people. But I think its safe to say that it is a holiday I could do without.

I don’t particularly like wearing costumes. People in costumes (i.e. Ronald McDonald) were the objects of terror to me as a child and I cried and hid whenever I saw them. This fear kind of stuck around as I aged and even now I run away from costumed people. I don’t like not being able to see their faces. I’m not fond of the idea of wearing a barely-there costume outside in 40-degree weather. I know I should be celebrating but on a cold night I’d rather stay cuddled with my hot chocolate indoors. To me, Halloween is just another one of our “made in China holidays where we are forced to eat disgusting candy that tasked like amoxicillin.

That is why I liked Halloween so much last year, when I was in London. There, the holiday was treated as an excuse to celebrate the season’s bounty and spend time with each other, enjoying good food and fun, fall activities. Last Halloween I walked amongst changing leaves, bought a purple and turquoise hydrangea from the flower market, visited the peter pan statue in Hyde Park, ate the most delicious lavender and honey ice cream cone, and attended and festive Bompas and Parr jelly-making session at Fortnum and Mason. I had butternut squash for dinner with a cup of warm tea and called it the best Halloween ever. So this year I want to celebrate similarly despite the cheap and typically American craziness that will occur around me. And I will most definitely treat myself to this dish again.

This is a Halloween Soufflé.  I made it two weeks ago…for lunch on a Monday…at 3:00 in the afternoon. It is a recipe I’ve had marked for a while in Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty. The recipe note says, “try something scary today, by scary I mean soufflé.” So that Monday afternoon, on the brink of a serious case of the hunger shakes, I decided on a spur of the moment decision to forgo eating for another two hours and try something scary: my first soufflé.

It’s called a Halloween soufflé because the lovely mixture of eggs, butter, and flour is combined with a large dose of creamy pumpkin puree. It turned the dish a deep golden color and added a subtle hint of earthy sweetness. And despite the time-consuming aspect, the soufflé was much less scary than I’ve always thought. I created my rue without any lumping problems. I mixed it with my egg yolk and pumpkin and miraculously avoided a curdling disaster. And finally, I folded this with my perfectly whipped egg whites. It went into the oven and for a frightening 20 minutes I waited, hoping for a successful outcome.

What I pulled from the oven was a beautiful thing; it had done exactly what it was supposed to. The top rose in a crackly golden mound above the lip of the bowl. It jiggled slightly as I quickly transferred it to the table, letting me know of the fluffy, airy surprise waiting inside. And within minutes I watched as the soufflé slowly started deflating and with that, I knew it was time to eat. It was warm and silky, and flowed like cream on my tongue. The tangy goat cheese offset the pumpkin’s sweetness and a nice smoky flavor and crunchiness came from the ground hazelnuts that coated the inside of my cooking bowl. A seemingly horror story with a happy ending…and it sure beats the hell out of candy corn!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Soufflé for One
adapted from Plenty

The ingredient amounts are a little guessed and wonky for this recipe because I cut the original in half and was also trying to convert from the metric system without a kitchen scale. But what I ended up doing worked fine so that’s all that mattered to me. Since I made it for just myself, I cooked it in a large, oven-proof soup bowl. Enjoy this with a nice green salad and a glass of white wine. Trust me, if you have this for Halloween, you won’t even miss out on the candy.

 Ingredients
2/3 cup pumpkin puree (I used fresh roasted and pureed pumpkin but I’m sure canned would work. Refer to here for roasting instructions)
a handful of hazelnuts
15 grams melted butter for greasing
15 grams unsalted butter
1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. flour
125 ml milk
2 egg whites
1 egg yolk
pinch of chili powder
1 tsp. chopped thyme
35 g strong goat cheese
salt
sour cream, for serving

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and put a baking sheet on the top shelf. Chill your cooking bowl in the fridge. Pulverize the hazelnuts in a food processor until you have a powder. Brush your chilled bowl with the melted butter and coat the entire inside with the ground hazelnuts. Tip out the remaining hazelnuts and set aside.

Melt the remaining 15 grams of butter in a saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook while stirring for about a minute. Slowly add in the milk and stir with a wooden spoon until the sauce is thick and free of lumps. Set aside.  In a bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, egg yolk, chili powder, thyme, goat cheese, and ½ tsp salt. Add the milk sauce and stir until smooth

Whisk the egg whites until you have stiff peaks but they are not dry. Gently incorporate them into the pumpkin mixture, being careful to retain as much of the air as possible. Fill up your prepared bowl and place on the preheated baking sheet for 22-24 minutes until the soufflé is puffed, the top is golden brown and the center just slightly moves when jiggled. Eat immediately with sour cream on the side.

Food Day 2011

Hello All,

I just wanted to say that I hope you had a wonderful and delicious 1st annual National Food Day. I love the idea that this could be the start of a powerful and life changing American tradition and that hopefully, in the future, it won’t take a designated day to make us eat healthy, eat locally, and enjoy meals with friends. These are the pleasures we should take part in at all times.

My community got really into this movement, extending the “Food Day” into a “Food Week”. My college is hosting food documentaries throughout the week, the town’s Co-op grocery store is having a kids food and craft session as well as a canning workshop. But most exciting was the big community breakfast we had this morning. All foodies of the community as well as our local farmers came out to gather and enjoy a simple yet healthy and entirely locally sourced breakfast. All benefits went to the food bank too.

We were treated to sweet potato pancakes with honey butter and real maple syrup, free-range scrambled eggs, pasture-raised and local bacon and sausage, baked local apples, apple cider, and fair-trade coffee. Needless to say, it was delicious. But the real importance of the event wasn’t the food but the building of community spirit. I hardly knew anyone there yet I still went and was gathered graciously into the community’s arms. I sat at a table with strangers, discussing food, our passions, and just our lives. Two talented ladies performed bluegrass music, filling the air with a liveliness that contrasted so nicely with the frosty cold air. Bundled up and bleary eyed as I was, I still felt a warmth in my heart and as strong sense of intense awakening as I realized just how much I admire this community I am living in.

A morning spent with good food and friendly, passionate people. I can’t think of a better way to start the day.

October Favorites

This was the view from my window this morning. Though the power lines are a little bit of an eyesore, it was easy to overlook them when just beyond was a sea of mist and neon orange flecked with patches or periwinkle. I'm lucky to wake up to this every day especially now that October has presented us with gorgeous mountain scenery in every jewel tone imaginable. An hour later, the sun came up and I sat outside watching my breath turn to mist and letting the rays envelop my entire being.

Sadly, October comes with some elements that add a bit of bitter to the sweet. First, October means its midterms so this weekend, instead of enjoying long and carefree drives through the mountains, I am studying. And then, since everyone is together, studying in close quarters, we all get sick.

So I woke up this morning, sick and agonizing over my overflowing schedule but I looked out the window, and all of that crappy stuff didn't matter anymore for a few brief moments. I'm glad there are so many things in life that override the bad and make up feel happy. So now, as I sit blowing my nose and blogging in procrastination, I give you the list of things that have made me happy this October.

This shop just opened in our town a few months ago. They have the best decoration things.

Though I had some rough experiences in Paris, this beautiful video made me remember the good parts.

Molly Wizenberg was just in London. Her pictures of St John brought back the best memories.

Wouldn't it be great to have these scattered about your room.

Hey, this could be a job for me.

Can't wait for food week this week!

This look like a nice comforting breakfast. Now I just need to get those little molds.

Pumpkin condiments? Yes please!

I can't get over the never-ending innovation. Must try the smoke and stout bar.

So beautiful!

Recipes to come soon. Happy Food Day tomorrow!

Roasted Pumpkin and Gingersnap Ice Cream

Do you remember the pumpkin patch?

I remember walking into that carnival-esque wonderland each fall. I remember everything having this sort of shimmering golden glow to it. I don’t know if the experience was simply altered and intensified as it filtered through my child’s eyes but the pumpkin patch was certainly magical.

Where else could I romp around on teetering piles of hay bales? I’d emerge dizzy, a sloppy sort of grin on my face and stray pieces of hay sticking every which way from my hair like an unfortunate, neglected scarecrow. A sight to see I’m sure considering my parents dressed me in flannel shirts and stiff, straight legged jeans every day of my childhood.

There were petting zoos, big slides, and a country store where you could buy those sticks of colored flavored honey. I also recall having this strange irrational fear of the hay rides, refusing to step foot onto the wagon until assured that the ride would not present any scary, sudden changes in motion.

But mostly I remember picking out my pumpkin. Thanks to my dad’s neuroticism, a trait he passed onto me, the search for the perfect pumpkin was exhausting. It needed perfect roundness, symmetrical plumpness, a broad flat front for carving ease, and a good sturdy stem with a with a twisting curved handle. Back at home we’d make a day of mucking up the kitchen with strings of pumpkin goo and then giving funny faces to our new gourd friends. I always gave mine buck teeth. Always.

I went to the pumpkin patch this past weekend with some friends hoping for transportation into childhood. Instead we were asked to pay ten dollars to take a hayride to the patch, pick out the pumpkin, return, and then pay for the pumpkin. Oh, there was a four-foot high corn maze too. Disappointed, we turned around and went home deciding a pumpkin was not worth that price. Yet I worried, was my older age casting a gloomy cloud over the once-relished pumpkin patch? Had I lost all sense of my child-like imagination and exploration?

Had I turned into a dependent of modern-day entertainment no longer impressed by the simple pleasures of a pumpkin?

After long thought, I decided no.

Though that wonderful pumpkin patch no longer excited me in the ways it used to, it is now things like simply cooking that transforms me into that childlike being with heightened senses and emotions. It’s the thing that puts that golden glow to my world. That can make a pumpkin seem like the best thing in the world.

That answer came about as I remembered the quart of pumpkin ice cream I had sitting in my freezer. A creamy and intensely rich frozen treat I concocted from a baby pie pumpkin I meticulously selected from the farmers market, liberal amounts of pumpkin pie spices, brown sugar, and honey, and handfuls of crumbled gingersnap cookies. The pumpkin flavor was pumped up to extreme levels as it slow roasted in the oven for nearly an hour. I then pureed the caramelized flesh into such creaminess it flowed like orange ribbons from my spoon. I devoured the leftover puree by the spoonful, feeling ridiculously like I was eating baby food, delicious baby food at that. And finally, after the warming scents of spice were expelled into the air as the concoction churned, I took my first taste of the freshly frozen dessert and it was a shock to my entire system. The ice cream, in contrast to any other artificially pumpkin-flavored thing I’ve eaten, was so intensely fresh. So real. It was the entirety of fall spirit and the reminiscence of childhood glee all compacted into one spoon.

Pumpkin Ice Cream
makes about 1 Quart
adapted from Jeni Britton Bauer

This is a slight adaptation of Jeni Britton Bauer’s Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home so it uses her ingenious method of replacing eggs in the ice cream with cream cheese. This actually works really well for the pumpkin ice cream because the slight cream cheese flavor pairs like heaven with the pumpkin. And again, I cannot stress enough how important it is to use fresh roasted pumpkin. The canned stuff just won’t compare.

Ingredients:
I small pie pumpkin
2 cups whole milk
1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. cornstarch
3 Tbs. cream cheese (full fat)
¼ tsp. salt
¼ cup honey
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 Tbs. light corn syrup
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
¾ cup gingersnap cookie crumbles

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the pumpkin in half and deseed the inside. Place it on a baking sheet cut side down and roast it in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until soft. Remove the skin and place the flesh into a food processor. Puree until velvety smooth. Measure out ¾ cup of puree for the ice cream and save the rest in the refrigerator for another time.

Mix 2 Tbs. of the milk with the cornstarch until smooth. Set aside.

Whisk the cream cheese and the salt in a large bowl until it is smooth. Add in the honey and the pumpkin puree and stir until well combined.

Prepare a large ice bath.

In a 4-quart saucepan, combine the rest of the milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, and pumpkin pie spice. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cornstarch and milk mixture. Place back on the heat and boil for one minute until thickened somewhat.

Slowly whisk the hot milk mixture into the pumpkin and cream cheese mixture and stir until combined. Pour everything into a gallon zip-lock bag, seal, and place in the ice bath for at least 30 minutes or until well chilled.

Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. When done churning. Pack the ice cream into freezer safe storage containers, layering with the gingersnap cookie as you go. You could also simply fold them all into the ice cream if you want. Freeze for four hours before eating.