Scapes, Beets & Broccoli

Ok, friends...as promised this is my "catch up" post!

Last week I bought some packaged, marinated BBQ ribs and thought I'd take a crack at making my first real, full meal.  I bought enough of the ribs to make them last through 2 dinners so I could focus on using some of my share items as sides - collard greens, turnips, beets, beet leaves and broccoli.

A lot of those sides were less than special - I just sauteed the collards and beet greens and roasted the turnips - all with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic.  They weren't bad, mind you, but didn't require any real cooking intuition.

I will make one small note here to say HOLY COW BEET GREENS ARE DELICIOUS!!!  I usually just discard them because, let's be serious they look disgusting, but a coworker told me they were the best part so I figured I'd give them a try.  He was soooooo right.  I'll never waste a beet green again...and neither should you!

I did make three dishes worth sharing with you all in a little more detail - Garlic Scape & White Bean Dip, Beet & Tomato Salad and Broccoli and Cheddar Cornbread.  I figure it's best to go from easiest recipe to most involved (although all three of them are really a snap).

Garlic Scape and White Bean Dip
The recipe, courtesy of the New York Times, calls it a dip, but it's pretty much hummus except with

cannellini beans instead of chick peas.  It requires ZERO cooking and only has 3 steps so it's pretty awesome.  The dip is delicious and replaced the hummus I usually bring to work every day.  It's also way cheaper to make then buying hummus!

NOTE: I did learn that I am going to have to buy a food processor.  I know some people swear by the Magic Bullet, but mine simply does not work.  It'll work for about three rotations and then get jammed up, so I have to shake it around, let it make another three rotations and repeat about a million times.  When thinly slicing 4 garlic scapes is easier than using a food processor you know you're in trouble.

Beet & Tomato Salad
Not a lot of ingredients necessary for this yummy dish!  I took inspiration from this recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart, but basically just used my intuition (even I don't know to know exactly how many pounds of tomatoes and beets I need to make a cold salad).

To keep things a little on the cheaper end, I picked up a container of mixed gourmet tomatoes.  They
were on sale at the grocery store and figured it would be less expensive and easier than getting a bunch of heirloom and cherry tomatoes separately.  Visually, they're really pretty too :)  I sliced a handful of the tomatoes in half.  I also picked up a small container of crumbled feta cheese.  Everything else I needed, I had - olive oil, salt, pepper...and of course beets!

I had 3 beets from last week and 2 from this week so they all got roasted.

I cut the greens and stems off (save them for later..remember, they're delicious), washed them thoroughly, put them on a sheet of aluminum foil and drizzled with olive oil and a little salt and pepper.  Wrap the beets up in the foil, pinching everything closed tightly, placed the tin foil packet on a baking sheet and popped them in the oven at 425 for about 45 minutes.  Depending on how big they are, the cook time varies.  Just take them out and poke 'em with a fork to see if they're tender.  If you have to force the fork at all they're not done yet - throw 'em back in the oven! When the beets are tender, let them cool enough to handle without burning your hands off.  Then rub the skins off under some warm running water...they should peel right off with little effort.

I chopped the beets up in a few ways to see what worked best and I think slicing them in half and then cutting 1/4" (ish) slices worked best.  Visually, probably slicing the entire beet into slices would look prettier, but I'm a practical woman and cutting them into bite-sized slices made more sense to me.  Do whatever you want...be creative...go crazy!

Once that's accomplished, all that's left to do is plate!  Take a plate (so easy), lay out the beets and tomatoes

however you want (you're just going to eat the darn thing anyway) and drizzle a little olive oil over the top along with some salt and pepper.  Top with the feta cheese and you're ready to go!

NOTE: Those of you who cook more than I do can confirm or deny this observation but it seems to me like you can't make ANYTHING without olive oil.  I'm not sure about the nutritional benefits of this stuff, but I sure hope it's ok for you!!!

NOTE 2: Beets are a mess so beware!  They're lovely magenta juices get all over everything and can stain your clothing so either dress appropriately or wear an apron when you work with them.  I must have washed my hands/table/floor about a million times during the skin peeling and cutting portion of this process!

Broccoli and Cheddar Cornbread
I am particularly proud of the success of this one, guys!  I found the original inspiration for the recipe at the Food Network website, but it calls for boxed cornbread mix, which...ewwwww.  I am a baker at heart and box recipes feel like a true betrayal...also, they're D.R.Y.

I have a great cornbread recipe already, from AllRecipes.com, that is pretty easy and super delicious.  I make two small changes to the directions:

1. I used canned corn instead of frozen corn because who wants to deal with defrosting corn when you just don't have to do it.
2. I usually bake mine is a 9"x 9" baking pan instead of in muffin cups since I usually make it to go with dinner instead of for breakfast.  This change means playing with the bake time a little, but just check to ensure that an inserted toothpick in the center comes out clean before you turn off your oven and cool.  Also, be sure to use vegetable oil cooking spray on the pan...NOT baking spray.  The baking spray gives the outer edges and bottom a floury taste that detracts from the flavor.

My cornbread recipe is a little on the sweeter side since it uses honey and sugar so I wasn't 100% sure how it would taste with the savory additions of broccoli and cheddar, but in the end it was FABULOUS.  The whole pan of cornbread was gone in 48 hours.

I used a cup of broccoli (what was left after my hot pockets from last week), but I think it would be wise to include more - 1.5 or 2 cups.  I cut the big chunks of stem off because I thought it would make the bread a weird consistency and broke the florets into smaller pieces to avoid getting a HUGE piece of broccoli in a single bite.  Then simply steam it (don't add salt to your steam for this recipe like I did in the hot pocket recipe).

Mix, with a rubber spatula, the broccoli and about 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, pour the mixture into the pan and bake (it takes about 10-15 minutes longer to bake in the 9x9 pan than the muffin tins).

When it's done set on a wire rack to cool before removing it from the pan.

SO GOOD! 

NOTE: I only used about 1 cup of the cheese when I made mine, but it needed more.  Also, I'd like to go a little more crazy and add some cooked yellow onion to it too.  Next time...and there will be a next time.

So there you go folks!  Everything I've been up to, but haven't had a chance to post yet.  Hope you enjoy these ideas and as always, you can find all the recipes from my blog on my Pinterest board.

PS - Keep and eye out for a bonus veggie person this week!