Straight from the Farm

I’m feeling kind of sheepish about this post…first, because the title is pretty cheesy, and second, because I can’t put down my fork long enough to make a coherent sentence.  Good lord, this cake is good! 

Okay, fork’s down.  Let’s start over while I have some lingering resolve to save the last sliver for tomorrow to give to Farmer Dave.   After all, the man did raise the amazing secret ingredient in the best darn chocolate cake ever!  For those of you that have read up on my general approach in the kitchen, you already know that I prefer baking to cooking.  I was thrilled to come across a recipe concept that finally brought my talents to the forefront, using the unassuming beet to do what applesauce often does in other moist baked goods. 

What’s the advantage of using beets?  Beta carotene, baby!  And folate and vitamin C and… well, the list is long but the general idea is beets are good for the body.  Chocolate cake is certainly a great way to sneak health food past your picky eater kids (or boyfriend, in my case). 

Now, a word to the wise about this cake.  Leave it cool completely before eating.  I repeat, WAIT or else you’ll taste the beets, which kind of weirded me out, to be honest.  When the cake is warm, there’s beet flavor.  When it’s cool, there is not even the slightest hint of it.  So, let the cake cool.  Good luck keeping your hands off of it after it has…pardon me while I eat just another little “crumb”…

A quick general tip to share for all you cooks with tight space and no dish washer.  When baking, I always mix my dry ingredients in a freezer ziploc bag that I just reuse the next time (no need to clean since almost every recipe calls for the same general combination of dry ingredients).  Just dump everything into the bag, seal and shake hard.  This technique 1) cuts down on dirty dishes and 2) fluffs up the flour so you don’t really need to sift unless you’re making something really delicate. 

I baked this cake in a spring form pan.  The recipe I was following most closely called for a bunt pan.  I think you can get away just fine with a regular sheet cake pan too.  A nice cream cheese frosting could really fancy it up nicely but before I could get to the store for the cream cheese, D had already dug in.  I didn’t protest much between my own mouthfuls. 

CHOCOLATE BEET CAKE
Adapted from various recipes on AllRecipes.com

1 c. margarine, softened, divided
1 1/2 c. packed dark brown sugar
3 eggs at room temp
1 1/2 oz. dark chocolate
5 medium beets/2 c. pureed beets
1 t. vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
confectioners’ sugar for dusting
 
To make beet puree, trim stems and roots off beets and quarter them.  Place in heavy sauce pan filled with water.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 50 mins or until the beets are tender.  Drain off remaining liquid and rinse beets in cold water as they’ll be too hot to handle otherwise.  Slide skins off and place beets in blender.  Pulse until a smooth puree forms.  Let cool slightly before using in cake.  Puree can be made several days in advance.

In a mixing bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and brown sugar. Add eggs; mix well. Melt chocolate with remaining butter; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. Blend chocolate mixture, beets and vanilla into the creamed mixture (mixture will appear separated). Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. spring form pan. Bake at 375 degrees F for 50-55 minutes  or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Cool completely before dusting with confectioners’ sugar.

(serves 16 if you’re lucky enough not to eat it all yourself)

I was talking with my friend Stephanie at work the other day about how some of the recipes I’d been posting developed a different personality as leftovers.  She suggested a tidy little weekly summary post, cleverly titled AfterWords, to share any post-post thoughts. 

For instance, for this week’s Roasted Vegetable Medley, I would have left out the jicama, which was good at the time when it came out of the oven but got too hard again when served the second day out of the microwave.   Next time I’ll just save it to eat raw, since it was so crisp and sweet that way.

Going back bit further, the Ukranian Radish Salad just did not hold up the next day - too much liquid.  When I make it the next time, I plan on lightly salting the radish slices and leaving them to drain in a colander for an hour or two before mixing up the salad.  I’ll also reduce the sour cream to 3/4 cup if I’m not planning on consuming it all the same day. 

Any of you that have tried the recipes I’ve posted have thoughts to add?   Reviews are why I’ve switched almost entirely to online recipes as I feel it’s so helpful to have the tips that others share.  So, please, please, sit and type about what would make something on this blog better! 

Due to my recent - ahem - “interest” in kohlrabi in the kitchen (ok, we all know it’s an obsession but let’s take the high road here people), I had a lot of leaves on hand, along with those from the beets and turnips used in the Roasted Vegetable Medley.  What to do with a towering pile of unfamiliar vegetable greens? 

Well, I started out anticipating the creation of a funky version of creamed spinach.  I love creamed spinach so why not change it up a bit, right?   Wrong.   There’s a very key difference between spinach and these root vegetable tops.   Spinach is tender.  These greens are not.  That’s not to say the taste wasn’t good.  In fact, dear D put on a brave face and ate a few bites just to assure me the flavor was fine but the texture was a bit wanting.  The leftovers sat in the fridge for a bit while I pondered how to write a post about this flop.

It was one of those cartoon light bulb moments while I was reading my book in bed at 8:30 (no, I’m not such an old fart as to go to bed quite so early. The bedroom just happens to be where the air conditioner lives…).  Aha!  If the taste is good but the texture rough, why not blend it?!  Thus the resulting tangy and hearty soup was a bit of a happy accident.  By adding some milk and blending, the greens finally gave up their rigidity.   And I got to save face in the end, at least for a little while longer.  

Oh, and while this soup could easily be served hot, I enjoyed it chilled (remember, my air conditioner lives upstairs, far away from my hot kitchen). 

Thanks to my hours on the farm Saturday and Monday, I was able to get quite the cornucopia of farm produce for this recipe.  So much is coming into season, it might get a tad challenging to keep up with it all here on the blog.  Two beauties I couldn’t wait to try out were the Purple Top Turnips and the Candy Cane Beets.

Now, since this blog is a bit of an experimental journey for most of us, including myself, I have to confess that before  last night I had never eaten a turnip in my life.  And growing up, my family grew plenty of beets but we only ever ate them canned during the winter.  I have fond memories of helping my mom prepare those beets by roasting them in the oven and peeling off the hot skins afterwards.  Funny how we never thought to dig in right then and there…  It was the memory of that sweet caramelized smell wafting through the kitchen that prompted me to compile this roasted vegetable medley.       

How crazy is that beet inside?  I almost couldn’t bring myself to eat it.  I can see why they call it the Candy Cane variety. 

Another experimental addition to the recipe was jicama, a vegetable common in Hispanic cooking.  While not a product of the farm, I wanted to give this root vegetable a try after seeing it prepared for salsa on PBS’s Simply Ming.  While it was good roasted, it was sensational raw!  Give it a try if you can find it in the produce section of your store.  (In the picture above, it’s the big brown thing right in front of the olive oil.)

Don’t throw away the turnip, beet and kohlrabi greens you trim off the top of the vegetables for the recipe below.  I have a good use for them in the next post, coming shortly.  Just store them in a sealed bag with a damp paper towel in the meantime.

ROASTED VEGETABLE MEDLEY

The following medley just happened to be available at the farm this week, but you can use any combination of these vegetables as you find/like them.

3 beets
3 turnips
3 potatoes
4 large radishes
2 kohlrabies, peeled
1 medium jicama, peeled
6 baby leeks, roots trimmed off but left whole
4 garlic cloves
4 T. extra virgin olive oil
4 T. herbs de provence (mixture of dried thyme, basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, dill, etc.)
3 t. salt (kosher or sea variety preferred)
2 t. fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Line a cookie sheet with foil.  Wash and dry all the vegetables.  Trim off all stems and leaves.  Peel off any blemishes from beets, turnips, potatoes and radishes, but leave on the majority of the skin. Cut all vegetables, except the leeks, into fairly uniform cubes about 3/4 inch in diameter.  The smaller you cut them, the faster they will cook.  Place vegetable cubes on the cookie sheet and drizzle wiht olive oil, reserving 1 tablespoon.  Toss and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and herbs.  Toss again to coat evenly.  Place uncovered into the oven.

(serves 6 as a side dish)

I wanted to write just a quick word on how to select and store kohlrabi.  This time of the year (early summer), look for kohlrabi that is about 2 inches in diameter with unmarked skin and healthy looking leaves.  In autumn, you can use bigger kohlrabi, up to 4 inches in diameter, without running the risk of getting one that’s too tough and woody. 

To store kohlrabi, snip off the leaves close to the bulbous portion (which is really a swollen stem, not a root bulb).  Then trim off the stems from the leaves.  Store the leaves in a ziploc bag with a damp paper towel.  Store the bulbous stem in separate ziploc bag without a paper towel.  Both will keep for a week if stored properly in your crisper drawer. 

p.s. - I promise this kohlrabi posts stint will be done by the end of this week.  With squash and baby leeks coming on at the farm, a change in the recipe line-up is sure to follow.