Spread the beet

I adore red beet. Cooked in stews, mashed, or diced into fresh salads all year round. My husband usually does not care for it, but we did find one recipe that he loved. It was a spread, and it involved mixing the beat with fresh goat cheese. That wouldn't do in our house. I thought about it for a bit, decided to try something out and... bingo ! It worked AND the home geek loved it.

The best part is that it is super quick and easy to make, as long as you have an immersion blender and can buy the red beet already cooked (if not, peel it, dice it and use your pressure cooker, red beets takes a rather long time to cook).

Vegan red beet spread

1 cooked red beet

2 teaspoons tahini (sesame paste)

3 teaspoons almond paste

1 or 2 garlic clove(s)

Peel and dice the red beet, peel the garlic. Put all ingredients in your mixing bowl and mix until they have blended into a soft, purple paste. Serve cold over fresh bread, or as a dip.

So where did the beets go ?

I haven't forgotten about this blog, I've just been... busy. As it frequently happens with two young children, friends coming over, and way too many projects on my hands.

A while ago, I posted about finding raw red beets. They've been cooked and eaten ! Here's how...

Potée aux betteraves (red beet stew)

2 red beets

about the same volume pumpkin

2 sweet potatoes

2 onions

1 saucisse de Morteau (a very large smoked sausage)

Proportions don't need to be precise, and don't hesitate to mix things up a bit !

Peel and slice the onions. In a large cooking pot or a dutch oven, preheat a dash of oil, add the onions. When the onions are translucent, add the diced Morteau (you can pretty much substitute any nicely salty, smoked or not sausage(s) )

Peel and dice the beets, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin and add them as you cut them to the pot. Stir some more. Add water until it almost covers the ingredients. Cover and let the stew simmer over low heat for.. a long time. One hour is a minimum. Beets take a long, long time to cook, and the more cooked it is, the better the stew will taste.

It is done when the vegetables turn to mush under the fork. And yes, it's very purple. Very, very purple. :)

Mama's note : mix it all together for a baby-proof meal. See background of the picture for proof.

Now, you can perfectly use pre-cooked red beets for this, the tastes won't mix exactly the same but it will be very good, too. I tend to prefer using my cooked beets in salads like say...

Winter salad, take 142358

1 red beet

1 endive

1 apple

1 handful corn salad

1 hard boiled egg

1 handful walnut

Dice or slice the vegetables, hack the walnuts and generally cut everything into small bits that can be easily mixed together. Yes, even the salad. If you're using something with bigger leaves like lettuce, pre-cut the leaves with your kitchen scissors - it makes for easier eating. Serve with a salad dressing made with a dash of walnut oil.