Red, Gold & Bleu Beets Ala Root 174

From haute cuisine to comfort food and even to country fair food, if you seek out the best of the best wherever it is, you just may be a foodie. For good or bad, the term denotes (to me at least) one who appreciates well-prepared, well thought out and presented, deliciously interesting foods. 
 
Which leads me to Root174. THIS is foodie paradise. The best part (well, except for the food!) is there are no pretensions whatsoever, just damned fine food prepared by damned fine people in a casual, comfortable and intimate space. If you haven't had the opportunity to get there yet, MAKE the time. Go. You will be dazzled.

Lured back for the crispy Brussels sprouts (that Chef and owner, Keith Fuller, cannot take off the menu for fear of a customer uprising), Mark and I grazed our way through a delightful meal. The menu tempted in so many directions, that I finally settled on a meal comprised of appetizers alone.  Well...and dessert.

We shared the heaping bowl of Brussels sprouts - the kitchen accommodated my gluten issues by using corn flour instead of wheat flour - with bacon. I don't know what else is in there, but the crispy leaves are simultaneously sweet and salty, crispy and soft and simply wonderful.

When Mark's hangar steak came, my other appetizers came, too. First was the chilled, smooth asparagus soup with a scoop of savory creme fraiche ice cream in the middle and garnished with crushed pink peppercorns. The color was gorgeous! The taste divine. Sweet and creamy fresh asparagus with the tang of creme fraiche and crunch and heat of the peppercorns was a beautiful start. Remember what I said about presentation and taste? No worries here.

Cream of Asparagus Soup with Creme Fraiche Ice Cream and Pink Peppercorns

 

Talk about presentation! The golden and red beet salad with honey cumin vinaigrette, bleu cheese crumbles and tiny watercress leaves was picture perfect and perfectly scrumptious. Although I'm not a vegetarian (bacon and I are BFF's), I could eat this as my main course any night of the week.

Beet Salad with Honey Cumin Dressing and Amish Bleu Cheese

 

Dessert? Yes, please. Although I looked at the flourless chocolate cake with beet ice cream longingly, I just couldn't tear myself away from the thought of an exotic sounding dessert with curry ice cream, coconut tapioca, roasted pineapple and crunchy cashews. That's exactly what I ordered because I knew I'd never have an opportunity to experience anything like it anywhere else. Am I ever glad I did! 

Curry Ice Cream, Coconut Tapioca, Roasted Pineapple and Cashews

 

Despite whatever you may be thinking, yes, curry most certainly DOES belong in ice cream! My tastebuds sang (and danced a bit, too, I'm sure) with the excitement of subtle, sweet spices and caramel-y sweet and tangy pineapple, smoothed by luscious coconut and made crunchy with cashews. If you see it on the menu, do not hesitate to order it...sublime.

I wish I could duplicate my dessert, but my skills are no match for the geniuses in the kitchen who came up with that one! However foolish, I did attempt to duplicate the beautiful beet salad. Here's the recipe for my version, but do yourself a foodie favor and get yourself over to Root 174 for the real thing. Oh! And don't miss one of Austin's awesome cocktails while you're at it!

 Red, Gold & Bleu Beets ala Root 174

•  4 beets, 2 red, 2 golden - greens removed (saved for beet greens!), lightly oiled, wrapped in foil & baked at 400 degrees until a knife inserted slides in smoothly. Cool, remove skins, cut into medium dice
• watercress, a few sprigs - tiny leaves removed for dish, larger pieces reserved for a salad
• 2 tablespoons bleu cheese, my fave is buttermilk bleu cheese - use what you like, crumbled (if you're highly gluten-sensitive, you may want to use a different cheese)

• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1/3 cup honey, I used organic orange blossom honey
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Arrange the beets decoratively on a plate. Sprinkle with watercress leaves and bleu cheese. Set aside.
 
Mix honey, cumin, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, orange juice, salt and pepper with a whisk until well blended. Drizzle over salad. Serve.
 
NOTE: If you wish, feel free to just toss the ingredients together and forget the presentation.  It will taste just as wonderful!


NOTE 2: My apologies to Root 174 for the inferior photos of their beautiful food. The cellphone just didn't cut it. The first photo is of my version, caught with a real camera in good lighting.

Golden Beet Salad with Orange Maple Vinaigrette

Sometimes you have to adjust your sails to the wind….sometimes you have to change your dinner plan to what looks really good in the grocery aisle!  The dinner plan I had for Sunday?  Smoked pork butt and coleslaw?  That got thrown out the window when I spied gorgeous bunches of golden beets at Whole Foods on Saturday.  There was no way I was leaving the store without them in my very own cart!

If you’ve been to Whole Foods, you know the perfectly displayed stained glass window effect going on in their produce aisle.  Red and orange and purple and green peppers all carefully lined up into impossible pyramids.  Purple, white and speckled eggplants march in lines to a drummer I sure couldn’t hear, but it was obvious they were right in step with the beat.  Leafy greens created fluffy ruffles that softened the shiny regimented veggies with just the right touch.  And then I started rifling through the beet bunches. 

I’m sure I felt the rolling eyes of the produce manager and could hear his silent plea to “just pick the ones on top for Pete’s sake!”  But I didn’t.  I dug to the bottom and picked the perfect two bunches.  Guilt forced me to make my best attempt at putting the rest of them back as I found them…sorta.

What would I do with my prize bunches?  Mentally I was already planning something simple to highlight the natural sweet earthiness of the beets.  I had an orange at home…and red onions and lemons and REAL maple syrup!  By golly, a warm orange beet salad to go with smoked pork chops and roasted asparagus was exactly what the NEW plan would be!  Goodbye smoked pork butt and coleslaw…till we meet another day.  Dinner Plan-it is flexible.

Golden Beet Salad with Orange Maple Vinaigrette

•  6 large beets, trim off the greens to 2" above the top of the beets (I used golden, but red beets would be yum, too.)  NOTE:  do NOT throw out the greens!  Save them for another meal!
• 1 orange, zested and juiced
• 1/4 red onion, sliced very thinly

• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup, yeah, the real stuff...I like grade B...more flavor!
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Wrap each beet individually in foil.  Roast in a preheated 425 degree oven until a knife slips into the center of the beets easily, but they aren't mooshy.  The amount of times depends on how big the beets are, but an hour, more or less....and then test.
 

Let the beets cool until you can handle them comfortably.  Squeeze the beet and the skin should slip off easily - if not, use a knife to coax it off.  Slice off the stem end.  Dice the beets into a large bowl.  Add the orange zest and juice and the onion.  Mix.
 

Add the salt, olive oil, lemon juice, maple syrup and pepper.  Mix well.
 

Serve at room temp.  

NOTE:  Bunches of fresh beets, if you're lucky, come with leaves attached.  Do NOT throw them away!  Save them for braised greens that your grandmother would have made back in the day.  You will be so happy to rediscover this delicious, thrifty side dish!  Yep, the recipe is coming up this week!

Roasted Beet and Feta Salad with Horseradish Vinaigrette

My Roasted Beet and Feta Salad

Beets are sexy!  Deep, lush red in color, velvety in texture and sweet as honey...mmmmm.  They're on every menu in every high-end restaurant these days!  Have you noticed? 

I admit it, I've not always been a fan - at one time beets seemed to be relegated to the salad bar at an old peoples' joint - right alongside applesauce, cottage cheese and canned pineapple.  Canned beets just don't cut it, but roasted FRESH beets are a revelation!  There's a reason they've become the hot "new" vegetable.  They are delicious!!!!

Mieke, Tall Matt and I had dinner recently at Copper, overlooking the links at Walnut Hills Country Club in East Lansing, MI.  What a beautiful evening with family accompanied by beautiful food, too.  Mieke enjoyed a grilled pork porterhouse with mango relish - yum.  My entree was the whole rainbow trout stuffed with Boursin, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach - you know I was in heaven.  And Matt went light with a delicious linguine and blackened chicken, andouille and peppers...nice.  

The hit of the evening? My beet salad with feta and horseradish!  It made me swoon it was so good.  I vowed to recreate that one when I got home....well, recreate the flavors, not the presentation.  The presentation at Copper, while gorgeous(!), is beyond my everyday needs.  I'd rather spend the my time making this salad frequently instead of creating the perfect presentation with layers of thinly sliced cucumber.  While the cucumber was nice, it was unnecessary.  It was the beautifully dressed beets that I was after.

Copper's Beet Salad

Last night the long-lusted-after beet salad recreation appeared on our dinner table with some lemon and garlic grilled pork chops.  My version of Beet Salad with Feta was as good as Copper's!!!  The hubby and I dined well last night - maybe not overlooking the golf course, but just as happily.

   

Roasted Beet and Feta Salad with Horseradish Vinaigrette

• 3 large beets
• 2 tablespoons feta cheese, small crumbles

• 1 1/2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or more, to taste
• freshly ground black pepper, a good amount

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Gently scrub and trim beets to 2" of stems; dry.  (Save the greens!  They make a great side dish on their own when braised with a little sugar and vinegar!)  Lightly oil outside of beets with olive oil and place in an oven-proof dish.  Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt, cover dish with foil and roast beets until a knife slides in easily.  Remove from oven and cool.

While the beets are roasting, put the vinaigrette together: mix well the horseradish, vinegar, mustard, olive oil, salt & pepper.  Whisk until well emulsified.  Set aside.
 
Slip the skins off the cooled beets.  Grate the beets coarsely.  Pour about half the vinaigrette over and gently combine.  Mix in the feta, gently mix again.
 
Serve the additional vinaigrette on the side.