4M

MAN it’s cold. I mean seriously cold. Weather like this demands comfort food and a fire. So last night I made up a rip-roaring fire and cooked this hot steamy colorful pile of root vegetables and meat:

Leeks-n-beets …

It’s just fun to say!

2 Leeks, well washed and then washed again after cutting
3 bunches of 3 beets each, also scrubbed clean with ugly bits peeled off, but leave the rest of the skin; reserve roots and greens for other delicious uses
A stick of butter
Some water
A container of chicken broth
French gray sea salt (my current favorite, I use it on everything)
seasonings to taste

Thickly slice leeks and cut beets however you like them - I sliced mine thickly and then cut them into 3 or 4 pieces each. This is the simplest recipe ever. Sautee the leeks in the butter for a while till they’re all soft and have lost most of their “hey, you know, we’re leeks, we’re cool” attitude. Add a bunch of water and the chicken broth and the beets. Add salt and whatever seasonings you happen to like. I honestly don’t remember what I threw in there but it was just a couple standbys, I’m sure. Bring to a boil, then simmer down and leave on the lowest possible fire, to make your whole house smell good for hours. That’s it!

Purple mashed potatoes

2 lbs small purple “c” potatoes, washed
A stick of butter (I’m seeing a theme here)
3 bulbs of garlic, the top cut off and the outermost layers of skin removed, drenched in plenty of olive oil
Salt
8oz. container of sour cream
A splash or two of milk

Bake potatoes along with garlic in a covered pan for an hour at 350. Save one of the bulbs of garlic for the chicken. Squeeze out the cloves of garlic from their skins while they’re still hot (you will need a kitchen towel for this, and make sure and squeeze all that garlicky olive oil goodness into the potato-mashin’ bowl. Try to resist licking your fingers afterwards. I couldn’t. Yum!

I just have to tell you, I can’t walk by these potatoes in the store without thinking of Peru. And when I think of Peru I think of still-twitching-fresh ceviche, amazing cheese, women bent under the weight of a hundred embroidered textiles on their heads, and hundreds of young and old people strolling the streets arm in arm without a care at 2am. There is some serious sentimental value there. But that’s a story for another time… I just don’t eat potatoes all that often so I rarely buy them. But they are chock-full of vitamins, small, tender, versatile and they are just the loveliest color when you cook them. I tried them on my party guests at my four seasons/four flavors party and nobody knew what they were so they wouldn’t dare touch ‘em. Sigh. Philistines.

Mash potatoes (by hand, I’m a purist) with roasted garlic and everything else. I didn’t peel my potatoes because the skin is so thin on these cute little purple guys and I really like the added texture of chunks of tender potato skin. This is without a doubt the prettiest potato dish you have ever seen. It is the loveliest shade of lavender and smells like heaven. The creaminess, the tartness, the lovely melty chunks of garlic … You could also use this as a filling for something - twice baked potatoes maybe - and top it with some really good hard cheese grated on top. Heaven. My son must have eaten two cups of these potatoes. Wouldn’t touch anything else on the plate.

Oh, and by the way, if you’re wondering if you can substitute nonfat sour cream, skim milk and aerated hydrogenated vegetable oil for the ingredients above, just stop reading now and get down on your knees, ’cause you need religion. May God have mercy on your soul.

Chicken Dijon with Roasted Garlic

My old standby, flash frozen boneless skinless breasts - I used 3
Olive oil
Lavender Salt
Roasted garlic
Dijon mustard, maybe half a cup
Tarragon
White wine, definitely at least a cup - good way to use up that leftover 2-buck-chuck

Mash roasted garlic into frozen chicken and bake, covered, with all other ingredients at 350 or 375 until the chicken is done, turning a couple times. I had too much sauce so when the chicken was done I poured it out and reduced it down a bit.

So do your best to imagine: (since I don’t have a camera and can’t show you)

A silky beet-red pond interrupted by ribbons of leek
A puffy lavender cloud of potatoes drifting in its center
A white fan of sliced chicken resting gently on it
A yellow drizzle
And a rip-roaring fire and a glass of wine.

Now c’mon, how can you [beet] that on a cold January night??

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 14th, 2007 at 11:06 pm and is filed under Marketing, FOOD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.