Steph’s Picks: Über Tuber Soup – or Golden Beet & Turnip Potage

I would suggest a small chopped bundle of flavorful cherry tomatoes and herbs be placed on top of the sliced baguette .  There ~ you have used 5-7 items you find at Root Connection! ~ Stephanie

One obvious reason to make root vegetable soup, besides it being so good for you, is that it lends itself to a luscious creaminess without necessitating the addition of cream or butter. … . The soup was so velvety rich that the toasted bread crouton pretty much floated on it briefly. Here’s my easy recipe.

Ingredients:

3 medium golden beets
3 medium turnips
one 11-oz can golden sweet corn
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sweet orange pepper sauce* (optional)
1/4 tsp each of the following powder herbs/spices:  ground star anise, cumin powder, coriander powder, ginger (powder or minced), turmeric
3 cups chicken stock
Salt & white pepper
toasted slices of baguette
jalapeño slices and/or coriander or parsley leaves for garnish

* I happened to have about 1/4 cup left over orange pepper sauce which I added to the soup. It had been made by roasting several peppers, removing the blistered skin, processing the flesh in a blender, and straining it through a sieve.

Method:

Boil beets and turnips, let cool, then peel and cube. Transfer cubed tubers to blender, add the corn and milk and pulse until puréed. Add all the powder herbs and orange pepper sauce, if using, and continue to blend.

Place a chinois, or other fine mesh strainer, over a bowl and using a silicone spatula, push the blended vegetable mixture through the strainer. Discard the pulp in the strainer. (If you prefer a coarser textured soup, skip the straining step). Pour the smooth liquid that’s been strained (or the mixture from the blender, if not straining) into a saucepan, and heat over a medium flame. Begin adding the chicken stock, stirring well to blend and reducing for about 20-30 minutes. Season with salt and white pepper, garnish with jalapeño slices or chopped herbs, and serve while piping hot with a toasted slice of baguette.

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Enjoy!

Recipe reprinted from http://www.2gourmaniacs.com/fine-food-food-photography/ber-tuber-soup-golden-beet-turnip-potage/

Preserving the Harvest

It is that time of the season when there are plenty of greens to harvest. There's mizuna, kale (3 varieties), mustard (two varieties), collards, vitagreens and swiss chard. It is impossible to eat them all within one week so here's a way to eat what you can and preserve the rest: freezing.

 

These instructions and the recipe are from the Root Connection recipe file here:

http://rootconnection.com/rec-greens.html

FREEZING GREENS

Remove stems and cut or tear greens into large pieces. Put in a large pot with 2 inches of water. Cover, bring to a boil. Quickly stir greens until they are all wilted. Take off heat. With a slotted spoon, remove greens to another bowl to cool. Save liquid from cooking and let cool.

When cool enough, put greens into a zip-lock bag. Then pour some of the reserved liquid over greens in the bag to 1/2 inch from the top. Close the bag and put inn freezer. (When doing several bags, space them out in the freezer until frozen.) To serve, remove frozen greens and liquid, heat slowly in covered pot, then season and cook to desired consistency.

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RITA'S SPICY GREENS

4 cups chopped greens (spinach, kale, chard, etc.) 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced 2 Tbsp. corn starch 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup cider vinegar 2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp. red pepper flakes 1/2 cup water 12 oz. spaghetti

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat a large pan or wok. Add greens and cook for 4 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook 2 minutes more. Mix together corn starch, brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, pepper flakes, and water. Add to pan. Stir to boil and thicken. Serve over pasta.

Steph’s Picks: Roasted Beet and Corn Salad

Corn is here! This combines this week’s first harvest of corn and beets.  Delicious! ~ Stephanie

Ingredients 

3-4 beets (about 1-1.5 lbs)
2 cups corn kernels (about 2-3 ears of corn)
Olive oil
2 tablespoons Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
Juice from one lemon
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 shallot, minced
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1.    Roast beets at 400 degrees F for 50-60 minutes. Take them out and let them cool for 20-30 minutes before peeling and dicing them.

2.    While beets are roasting or while they are cooling, roast the corn. Coat the corn with olive oil, spread on a cookie sheet or roasting pan, and roast at 400F for 15-20 minutes. When cool, use a paring knife to cut off the kernels.

3.    When beets and corn have cooled to room temperature, combine them in a medium/large bowl with the parsley, lemon juice, vinegar, and shallot.  Mix well.

4.    Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve room temperature or chilled.

Enjoy!

P.S. For  more instructions on how to cook beets, scroll down to view an earlier post titled "Instruction manual for beets".

 Recipe reprinted from  http://willblog4food.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/roasted-beet-and-corn-salad.