Beet Salad with Pepitas

Lucky me!

My entire Rosh Hashanah celebration has changed for the better. I thought it would just be Ed and me, attending Zoom services and sharing a meal for two.

But my kids and grandkids are coming too! We will watch outdoors on the patio. And be together —- sort of — for a meal! Each family will have a separate place to eat.

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am, even though it won’t be normal and we can’t hug and kiss. But it’s something. And I am grateful.

Instead of the chicken dish I was planning to make, it’s going to be food for a family, not just the two of us: brisket (I was finally able to get one) and a turkey breast plus several sides, including this beet salad, which I can make in advance and scatter with seeds at the last minute.

This is better than the original plan. For sure.

Beet Salad with Pepitas

• 3 large beets, trimmed

• 3 scallions, chopped (or one large shallot or 1/3-1/2 cup chopped red onion)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 3 tablespoons orange juice

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

• 1 teaspoon grated fresh orange peel

• salt to taste

• 2 tablespoons toasted pepitas

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Scrub the beets and wrap them tightly in aluminum foil. Roast until tender, about 45-75 minutes, depending on size. Unwrap the beets and when they are cool enough to handle, peel them. Cut the beets into bite size pieces. Place the beet chunks in a bowl. Add the scallions, olive oil, orange juice, mint and orange peel. Toss ingredients. Sprinkle with salt. Let rest for at least 15 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with pepitas. Serve at room temperature. 

Makes 4-6 servings

Cornish Pasties

I don’t have a boss who sends me home at 5 o’clock so that I can cook dinner.

In fact, I am self-employed. I’m my own boss, like lots of other women. When you are your own boss it means you have to be vigilant about getting to work, getting the work done and getting the work done on time. No one is there hammering you to do the job. No one is there threatening you that if you don’t, you’ll be fired. 

And of course there are days when one is not home at 5 o’clock to cook dinner.

Like the days when I am not working at my food writing but am spending time with the grandkids. Those can be long days. I am sometimes exhausted when I get home (but wouldn’t trade those days for anything).

That’s when I need food that I can (or my husband Ed can) pop into the oven to heat through so even on those days we can have a lovely meal.

Like these Cornish Pasties. It can be a meal in one because it has protein plus vegetables.  But I guess a salad would round it out nicely.

Pasties are also handy for football watching or election night watching.

Cornish Pasties

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons cold margarine or butter

5 tablespoons vegetable shortening

Water, about 3-4 tablespoons

12-14 ounces beef, such as skirt or hanger steak, finely chopped (or chopped, cooked halibut)

2 medium all-purpose potatoes, peeled and finely chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 cup frozen peas

1 large carrot, finely chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon margarine or butter cut into 8-10 equal pieces

1 large egg, beaten

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Measure the flour and salt into a food processor. Add the margarine or butter and vegetable shortening in chunks. Process ingredients on pulse about 18 times, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add 3 tablespoons water gradually with the machine on, adding more water only if necessary to form a soft ball of dough. Wrap the dough in plastic and let rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. When chilled, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and roll each piece into a circle about 1/8-inch thick. Place the chopped beef, potatoes, onion, peas and carrot in a bowl and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture evenly just below the center of each rolled out piece of dough. Top each with one piece of margarine or butter. Brush a film of beaten egg around the perimeter of each circle. Gently fold the dough into half circles, covering the filling and crimping the edges together. Place the pasties on a cookie sheet. Brush the pasties with beaten egg. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 375 degrees. Brush the pasties with egg for a second time. Bake for another 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Makes 8 pasties

Poached Salmon with Dill Sauce

Always start with the dessert.

That’s what someone once told me about dinner. Well, not exactly the eating part. She meant the planning part. A colleague told me that when she planned her dinner party menus she always works back from dessert.

I don’t do that myself, but last week I did write about the dessert I was going to serve this past weekend for a dinner party I was having, so it was sort of the same.

Now I can tell you about the main course, which was Poached Salmon. Nothing modern here: an old-fashioned but well-loved entree that never goes out of style. So many benefits on top of the fact that it is so delicious.

First, Poached Salmon looks elegant and needs little in the way of “professional” type garnishing. I’m no culinary artist, so I dressed the dish up with lettuce, cut up cucumbers, tomatoes, lemons and limes, plus a sprig of dill in the center. It’s supposed to look like a plant coming out of a flower pot (created with three small slivers of tomato) and a bit of sunshine (piece of lemon).

Second, you can make it all in advance — in fact you have to in order for the texture to be right and the fish to be chilled properly. That means all you have to do is get it out of the fridge when you sit down to dinner.

Third, it’s healthier than a whole lot of other things you can (and I have) served. I even modernized my recipe for dill sauce, using yogurt instead of dairy sour cream so as to cut down on the fat.

Next time you need a lovely, make-ahead, healthy entree for company dinner, think of this one:

Poached Salmon with Dill Sauce

The Salmon:

4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
2 leeks, dark green parts discarded, washed and sliced into 1-inch pieces
2 medium onions, sliced
4 quarts water
2 cups dry white wine
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 lemon, cut into quarters
1 bay leaf
3-4 sprigs thyme
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
salt to taste
2-1/2 pound chunk salmon

Place the carrots, leeks and onions in a large soup pot. Add the water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Pour in the wine and wine vinegar. Add the lemon quarters, bay leaf, thyme sprigs, peppercorns and some salt and bring the liquid back to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes. Strain this mixture (court bouillon) into a large bowl. Place the fish, skin down, on a rack in a deep pan (such as a roasting pan). Pour in the court bouillon. Be sure the entire fish is covered. Add the cooking vegetables if necessary to bring the liquid up to the proper depth. Place the pan on a cooktop. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the fish. Cover the pan. Bring the liquid to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the meat thermometer reads 110-112 degrees. Remove the pan from the heat. Let the salmon cool in the liquid. Refrigerate the salmon (in the pan, still covered by the liquid) until cold. Carefully remove the salmon to a serving dish. Garnish with fresh produce such as lettuce, slices of tomato and/or cucumber, plus lemon and/or lime segments. Add a sprig of dill or parsley if desired, as garnish. Serve with Dill Sauce. Makes 6 servings

Dill Sauce

1 medium cucumber
1/2 cup Greek style plain yogurt or dairy sour cream
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Peel the cucumber, slice it in half lengthwise and scoop the seeds. Grate the cucumber and place it in a strainer. Press down to extract as much liquid as possible. Place the cucumber in a bowl. Add the yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic, dill and mint. Mix ingredients to blend them thoroughly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes about 1-1/4 cups

Baked Stuffed Potatoes with Horseradish and Dill

What’s TNBT? Every new year people make predictions. One time I read that The Next Big Thing would be a frying pan that somehow let you know when the pan reached the perfect temperature to add eggs or hamburger or pancakes.

It wasn’t.

This year I’ve read, in a few places, that Peruvian cuisine would be TNBT.

Maybe. Maybe not. 

But I do know that we have the Peruvians to thank for potatoes. Centuries ago, Spanish conquistadors set out to the Americas to find El Dorado, the land of gold and plenty. They never found that. But they did find plenty of potatoes, a culinary treasure to be sure.

Potatoes, which no one in Europe knew about then, flourished in the volcanic soil of the Peruvian Andes. The conquistadors took note at how the Peruvians roasted potatoes whole, until the insides were soft and the outsides crunchy and dark.

Baked Potato.

My favorite.

If I could only pick one food to live on for the rest of my life it would be a baked potato.

Baked potatoes are so good (especially if you use an organic Russet, or Idaho potato) that, IMHO you don’t need to do anything with it except sprinkle the insides with salt (I like a mineraly sea salt) and freshly ground black pepper.

But okay, butter works too (unsalted always tastes fresher and cleaner).

And some people like to add sour cream and chives. And other people like Baked Stuffed Potatoes, which I have to confess, are a wonderful make-ahead side dish, and so versatile that there are more versions than you could possibly consider cooking.

Here’s one recipe:

Baked Stuffed Potatoes with Horseradish and Dill

4 large Russet potatoes

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons cream cheese

1/2 cup dairy sour cream

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

1-1/2 tablespoons prepared white horseradish

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Scrub the potatoes and dry them. Pierce the potatoes and place them in the oven (or you can wait and pierce the potatoes after 20-30 minutes). Bake the potatoes for about an hour or until you can easily pierce into the flesh with the tip of a sharp knife. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice them in half lengthwise and scoop the flesh into a bowl. Add the butter and cream cheese and mash into the potatoes. Add the sour cream, dill and horseradish and mix them in. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Using equal amounts, stuff the mixture back into the skins. Place the potato halves on a cookie sheet. Reheat the potatoes until hot (10-15 minutes depending on whether the potatoes have been refrigerated). Makes 4-8 servings