...more on beets

Our recent blog on beets, inspired Matthew Aron Roth, who photographed all the food for Polish Classic Recipes so well, to offer these thoughts on the noble beet.   (Check out Matthew’s own blog at: http://matthewaronroth.photoshelter.com)

I was elusive to the beet for many years.  Being adventurous with food from an early age, eating whitefish as a toddler and willing to try new foods, that round purple beet never appealed to me. My father and mother liked them either pickled or prepared some other way I was oblivious to. 


On the first day of shooting for the cook book, one of the dishes was the Cool Summer Barscz soup. It was a light purple or pink hue with julienne sticks of beet in it. This was the day I was going to see how beets tasted.  I can’t describe the taste well enough but knew then and there that the taste, consistency and feel of that soup in my mouth would make it an ideal dish on a hot summer day. 


Truthfully, the beet was not my favorite food out of the entire book. However, it is one of the most important ingredients to me since it opened my eyes to a new flavor and taste with which I was totally inexperienced.  The various applications and uses for the beet is expansive. The only prior way I had ever encountered it was in horseradish.  I just liked the fact that it made the horseradish more manageable on my pallet and added some color to the bland gefilte fish that it garnished.  I am happy that I now know the unique flavor profile of this vegetable and how it important it is to various dishes in Polish cuisine.

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In honor of Matthew’s new culinary experiences, here is a traditional Beet recipe that works really well when served with pork roast and boiled or roasted baby potatoes. Since we’re still in Lent, these beets will be stunning on a plate next to your favorite white fish.   Smacznego!

Beets, Polish Style
2 one-pound cans of red beets, (not pickled beets) drained and finely chopped
½ cup beet juice, reserved from the cans
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice (to taste)
Salt (to taste)

In a pot, whisk the flour into the beet juice and mix well.  Add the chopped beets and bring to a low boil.  Add the sugar and a pinch of salt. Add half of the lemon juice and taste. The beets should have just a hint of lemon, to compliment the sweetness of the beets.   Add more lemon juice and salt to taste.

NOTE:  if you have some extra time, start with six medium peeled, fresh beets.  Cover with water in a pot and bring to a boil.  Cover the pot and simmer for about 45 minutes or until just fork tender.  Remove from pot and cool.  Retain half a cup of the beet juice.  Once cooled, chop the beets, and follow the recipe as above.

Lenten comfort food

Photo by Matthew Aron Roth

Witamy!  As we approach another Lenten season, many Poles and other Catholics around the world are digging through their recipes for meatless dishes. We wrote an earlier blog about how Polish cuisine and other Eastern European cuisines depend on dried mushrooms in their cooking. It’s very distinctive since their flavors, when reconstituted, are much more intense than what is usually found in our grocery stores. Years ago forest mushrooms throughout Poland were harvested and threaded on strings and hung up to dry for use throughout the winter months.  These days dried mushrooms are mostly sold in small packages, but if you do see dried mushrooms on a string they are quite expensive.  So look for dried mushrooms in better grocery stores and gourmet shops – the darker the better. I tried ordering some online and it turns out the seller is in Bulgaria.  Two months later I still haven’t received my package.  The seller assures me they were mailed but “that Bulgaria is a long way from the USA.”

Sauerkraut with Mushrooms
Note:  if you can’t find dried mushrooms, fresh ones will work fine as long as you use a darker variety that has stronger flavors – Eight ounces of porcinis would be great.  

1 ounce dried mushrooms, thoroughly rinsed
½ cup water
2 pounds sauerkraut, well rinsed and drained
2 onions, sliced
3 tablespoons cooking oil
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Rinse the mushrooms very well and soak in hot water for two hours.  Remove, rinse again and slice.  Strain the mushroom liquid through cheese cloth and save.

Rinse the sauerkraut very well and place in a pot which contains a small amount of boiling water. Add the mushrooms and the mushroom water and bring to a low boil.  Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.  Refrigerate overnight. When ready to serve, start reheating the sauerkraut gently. Saute onions in oil until just golden. Add the flour and saute for a few more minutes, constantly stirring. If the mix is too thick (like a paste) dilute with a little bit of liquid from the sauerkraut.  Add this mix back to the sauerkraut, bring to a low boil.  Salt & pepper to taste.

Pair this dish with very small boiled potatoes which have been drizzled with melted butter and fresh chopped dill.  Serve with hunks of crusty rye bread.  Finally,  it would be very traditional that this dish would also be accompanied by a shot of ice cold Polish vodka or a good beer.  That sure works for me!  Smacznego!

Beets, beets, bodacious beets!

Photo by Matthew Aron Roth

Witamy!  Beets just may be one of the most under-appreciated foods in the history of eating. Several websites point out that although the leaves have been eaten since before recorded history, the red bulbous roots which we commonly eat today were more often used by healers and did not become a popular food until French chefs recognized their potential in the 1800's. From the earliest times of medicine, beets have been used to treat anemia, poor digestion, constipation, piles, poor blood circulation, kidney disorders, skin ailments, dandruff, gall bladder disorders, cancer, and heart diseases.

The health benefits of beet roots can be attributed to their richness in nutrients, vitamins and minerals. They are a source of carotenoids and lutein/zeaxanthin. Beets are also rich in dietary fibre, vitamin C, magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus. One website I saw mentions that beets are also full of powerful anti-oxidants called anthycyanins. They are very low in calories, but have very high sugar content and are also used to make refined sugar.

Now that we’ve covered the technical stuff, the really cool thing about beets is how amazingly versatile they are as a food. Growing up in Pittsburgh and occasionally frequenting a “beer garden”  (that’s a Western Pennsylvania term for local hangout – kind of like Cheers) I can still see those large jars perched on the bar, filled with hard boiled eggs floating in dark red liquid. Even before I could legally slurp the foam of an Iron City beer, I loved wrapping my lips around the end of a pink egg, biting down into the firm yellow yolk surrounded by envelope of firm egg white that had been absorbing the tang of the pickled beet juice. The best nickel I ever spent!

Photo by Matthew Aron Roth

These days, Laura and I are often asked about what distinguishes Polish foods from others. The answer is found in Polish cuisine’s use of ingredients and flavorings such as kielbasa, dill, and, for sure, beets.  I confess that I’ve not always been a fan of plain beets out of the can - my Mom often julienned canned beets and added them to green salads, not my favorite. However, my two all-time favourite Polish dishes are beet soups, known in Polish as Barszcz, and a beet relish known as Cwikla  (pronounce: chfi’ kwa) – nothing more than chopped beets mixed with ground horseradish in whatever proportion your lips can stand.

Barszcz is the most iconic of Polish soups and is an uncontested favorite throughout Eastern Europe.  There are hundreds of varieties, depending on which region or town or village your recipe originates.  The clear varieties, not much more than flavored broth, are very sophisticated holiday specialties, most often sipped from a fancy china cup to accompany other Easter or Christmas appetizers.  More hearty versions get their balanced flavors from the addition of vegetables, sour cream and occasionally a full head-on shrimp or two.  They are commonly served both hot and refreshingly cool.

There are several classic recipes for beet dishes in our new book, including a clear Barszcz for Christmas, Cwikla, a very simple Marinated Beet Salad, and Chlodnik – a cool summer Barszcz with the most amazing pink color with flavors to match. It must be said here that Dan and Matt, who styled and photographed the plates for our book, were not very familiar with beets before coming to our kitchen.  As expected from two young men in a perpetual state of hunger, they had to taste every dish in the book.  By the time they tasted all the beet recipes, it’s safe to say they had become converts!

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Here is a simplified recipe for a very quick and easy version of Barszcz that would be great for a spring lunch, served with hunks of fresh crusty rye and your favourite adult beverage. Only 15 minutes to prepare! Smacznego!

Barszcz
6 beef bouillon cubes
3 1/2 cups water
2 1-pound cans of red beets (not pickled)
1 14-ounce can of brown baked beans
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

Bring water to boil in a large pot.  Dissolve the bouillon cubes and add all the beet juice drained from the two cans of beets. Rough-chop 1 cup of beets and add to the pot; save the rest of the beets for another day.   Rinse the beans well, add to the pot and bring back to a low boil. Add the lemon juice and seasonings to taste.  The salt and lemon juice will enhance the beet flavours. Also, you should definitely taste the pepper.   Remove from heat.  Serve in casual bowls and top with dollops of sour cream and sprinkled parsley.