A Vacation Post & Roasted Radishes

We enjoyed a week holiday.  First in lovely Maine gorging on lobsters and potatoes, and then in Montauk reading, relaxing and doing some serious rain-induced puzzling.  The lobster eggs benedict at this restaurant in Portland and the lobster roll at Calder's Clam Shack on Chebeague Island were major food highlights of our trip up north, should you find yourself in the neighborhood.  

With the travel, I gave our weekly CSA to good friends down the street.  I delighted in their reviews, "The veggies are AWESOME. Simply Amazing," and experienced a hint of jealousy when hearing about sauteed garlic in radish greens.  Farm fresh radishes are an absolute favorite of mine.  When I first had a farmers market radish, the pungent, crisp morsel so out-shined the supermarket's watery variety that I knew local and in season eating was a must. 

On Thursday, I attended the Montauk Farmer's Market and inspired my radish envy, picked up this gorgeous bunch.

My farm share's weekly email shared a quick recipe for roasted radishes.  While others at my table loved them, I found them just so-so.  The roasting cut out much of that bright spicy flavor, and they almost tasted like slightly spicy small turnips. Not bad, just not as expected.  Since half my table enjoyed them (and shared that sentiment unsolicited!), I share the recipe below.  I'd love to hear your comments if any of you give this easy recipe a go.
  

Roasted Radishes
Ingredients 

• 1 bunch of radishes
• 1 tablespoon of melted butter
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Thyme or other herbs as desired

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 250°c.
• Trim the radishes well (saving the green tops for a salad or saute if you are so inclined!), leaving about 1/2 inch of stem. 
• Rinse the radishes well. For me, this involves a brush or a good finger nail over the particularly earthy spots.
• Place the radishes on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with melted butter and olive oil, and sprinkle with the salt, pepper, and herbs.  Toss to coat.
• Roast for 12 to 15 minutes, until the radishes are tender but still slightly crunchy (red radishes will turn pale pink in color, lighter radishes may turn a pale gold). Serve warm or at room temperature. 

The Tomato Tales

I have a confession to make. I don't like tomatoes. No, actually, I loathe them. Not cooked tomatoes, or pasta sauce, or even the friendly sun-dried kind (most days), but raw, seedy, watery, tomatoes literally make my throat close. Many a tomato-lover has begged me to try this heirloom or that cherry variety, but I just can not enjoy them. Luckily, my husband (and father and stepmother) feel the same way! 

As a food lover, this is a hard one. Tomatoes are one of the few food items that regularly pop up everywhere unannounced. Have you ever ordered a sandwich or salad and had it arrive with mushrooms not listed on the menu? Never. Unlisted tomatoes, on the other hand, are doled out aggressively. There are many bigger (and real!) problems to be had, but as a veggie lover my relationship with the tomato is a tough one.

I've been on a quest to enjoy CSA tomatoes. Pasta sauces and stews were satisfying...until I started roasting them. Inspired by two of everyone's favorite food bloggers, this one and that one, I roasted a batch last year and oh my lord are they sheer goodness. The roasting brings out an almost caramel taste, reminding you why this food is actually a fruit.

I pop roasted tomatoes in my mouth for a little treat after meals, as a part of breakfast, when opening the fridge to get water.... I'm addicted. And best of all for this CSA-er, roasted tomatoes are a fabulous way to enjoy a weeks worth of tomato shares in one go.

Roasted Tomatoes 

Ingredients 

• 3 -12 tomatoes
• Ground Cumin
• Whole Coriander Seeds
• Salt, Pepper
• Olive Oil

 Directions

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with tinfoil.
  
• Wash, dry and cut in half as many tomatoes as you have on hand. I've used as little as 3 (6 halves), and as many as will fill two baking sheets.
• Line the tomatoes, sliced side up in the pan.
• Lightly drizzle with olive oil, up to 2 tablespoons for a full tray.
• Sprinkle with salt, fresh pepper and ground cumin (nothing scientific, just a light dust)
• Toss up to 2 tablespoons of whole coriander seeds over the tomatoes if roasting a whole tray. Some seeds will land on the tomatoes, others on the pan.
• In the middle rack, roast the tomatoes for 2.5 - 4.5 hours depending on your oven and the size of the tomatoes.  They will shrink down to about 1/3rd their size, and smell a-MA-zing. 

Uses

Aside from their pop-them-in-your-mouth-like-candy enjoyability, these little gems are delicious: 

• On sandwiches
• Served warm on top of burgers (turkey, veggie, beef)
• Minced up in omelets
• Blended with a little olive oil and water for a roasted tomato sauce
• In tacos
• Sliced over salads

Storage

If you expect to use them in a weeks time, store in an air-tight container in the fridge.  To extend the shelf-time of your roasted tomatoes by a couple of months, generously cover the entire batch in olive oil.

 

Veggie & Fruit Love...

Beet Soup

If a beet appetizer is on the menu, I cannot not order it.  I shudder to imagine all the lovely soups or inventive appetizers I’ve missed through the years with my blind eye towards the beet, but now it’s an addiction I just can’t quit.  Red, golden, roasted, in soup, with nuts, pickled, I adore every beet.  

A former co-worker and I keep in touch simply by updating each other on new new beet plates to try around New York City.  A recent favorite in the West Village, here, I will be attempting to recreate it on this blog shortly.

To my delight, this week’s CSA delivery included both golden and red beets: 

Inspired by a Cheeky Kitchen post, I settled on beet soup.  The problem is … I cheated.  With leftover beets from a farmer’s market run last weekend already cooked, I didn't roast the beets.  My end result was gorgeous in color, but a little bland, and actually too beety in flavor.  Not the "good" beety, more the canned watery beety flavor. Minus one point LaurenLocally.  

I remedied this by adding in a solid spoonful or two of crème fraiche.  In the end, I enjoyed my soup with a side of toasted French bread with garlic scape pesto and was satisfied.  

What follows is my recipe, a "healthier" (bland?) feeling soup unless you add in the crème fraiche.  Dear reader, if earthy is what you are after, I suggest roasting your beets.  Drizzling olive oil on trimmed beets for 35-45 minutes at 425 degrees should do the trick.

Beet Soup

Ingredients

• 6 red or golden beets, trimmed and cleaned with skins still intact
• 2 shallots, roughly chopped
• 2 cups of vegetable stock
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Crème fraiche

Directions

• Bring a medium size pot of water, enough to cover the beets, to boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 45 minutes - 1 hour until tender.  Drain the beets and let cool slightly until you are able to handle.  Peel and roughly chop beets.  Since these are being pureed, uniformity is not required!
• In a deep saute pan or soup pot, heat the olive oil and saute the shallots over medium heat until just glistening, 4-5 minutes. Add the vegetable stock and beets. 
• Using an immersion blender, transferring to a food processor or stand-up blender, puree until smooth. 
• Return to pot, without heat, and season generously with salt and pepper. 
• Mix in 2-4 tablespoons of creme fraiche. 
• Serve topped with an extra dollop of creme fraiche. 

Your soup will look something like this:

About Beets

Long used for medicinal purposes to address ailments such as fevers and open wounds, beets have been cultivated since second millennium BC.  Both the beets leafy tops and roots are edible.  

Bronxville Farmer's Market

My CSA membership begins next week. Lettuces, green veg and fresh produce, oh my.  I couldn't help but share pictures of my favorite afternoon snack -- fresh radishes (soon to be salted) from the Bronxville Farmer's Market this morning.  First official CSA post coming soon!