Sweet-potato-and-beet-loaf

The idea for this recipe came to me just now as I was munching on these chips called "sweets and beets" (yummy, you should try them...) while pulling out the sweet potatoes I planned to use for dinner. These potatoes, long and thin in shape, were just screaming to be run through the feed tube of a food-processor. It's what nature seemed to want for them...

Here's what you need:
3 or 4 skinny sweet potatoes, peeled and shredded
1 large golden beet, peeled and shredded
1 small onion, chopped small
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 eggs, beaten + 4 more, also beaten
A handful of flour
Salt and pepper to taste
Chicken broth (enough to wet the ingredients a little bit so that they'll cook more evenly)
About a tablespoon of dill weed

Butter the bottom and sides of a casserole dish. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except the 4 eggs and the dill together and pack into the casserole dish. Beat the dill weed into the four eggs and spread evenly over the top of the casserole. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.

Serve on a bed of lettuce with tomatoes and cukes, some toasted bread and lemon wedges.

Old dog, new trick

Beets. Crimson, sweet, healthy, hardy... but what do you do with them? There's always roasting, steaming and pickling, but this can get old after a while. So I've been thinking lately of new ways to cook these most lovely veggies. And today, when I was least expecting it, an idea flashed through my mind: stuffing! Yes, stuffing! For cabbage leaves... or collard greens, since that's what I actually had in the fridge.

What you need: 3 carrots and 1 large beet (peeled and shredded), half a finely chopped onion, collard greens, brown rice, rosemary, salt, pepper, juice of one lemon, garlic. (Note: in retrospect, the beet-carrot mixture ended up being way more than I needed, so you can cut it in half or make the whole thing and have leftovers... I highly recommend the second option!)

Cook the rice (I had leftover, which is best). Sautee the onions in olive oil until soft, add the carrots and beets, salt and pepper. In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to boil. Snip the stems of the collard greens, rinse and submerge in the boiling water for a few mintues, a few batches at a time).

Line the bottom of a glass dish with enough collard green leaves to cover. Mix about half the beet-carrot mixture with the rice (maybe a cup or so) and rosemary. Lay out a collard green leaf on a cutting board, cut off about 3 to 4 inches of the stem, place 1 or 2 good spoonfuls of the stuffing on the leaf and roll it up like you would if you were making a burrito or a sandwich wrap, and line the stufffed leaves tightly into the pan.

Peel some garlic cloves and place them down the center of the two rows of stuffed leaves, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour the lemon juice evenly over all as well as some of the collard greens cooking water. Cover and bake at 400 for about 40 minutes.

Served with rice mixed with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, these stuffed collard greens made a great light, late-night dinner.

Bulgar and friends

Another early spring meal based on root crops, leafy greens, and bulgar, one of the hippest grains (more nutritious than rice or couscous!).

The beets: Peel and cube, mix with 1/2 a chopped onion, olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast in a 425F oven for about 45 minutes.

For the bulgar dish: 1/2 cup of bulgar, 1/4 of a finely chopped onion and garlic, a handful each of dried cranberries and chopped almonds, salt, pepper and cumin. Sautee everything but the bulgar in olive oil over low heat until onion is transculent. Add the bulgar and stir, covering the grains with oil. Add 1 cup cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes. Be watchful of the water and add more as need be.

For the greens: Collard greens (washed, trimmed and cut into long strips), 1 carrot (peeled, halved lengthwise and chopped fairly thin), 1/4 sliced onion and 1 clove garlic minced, salt and pepper to taste.

Sautee the onion, carrot and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes. Add the greens and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until greens are tender.

The finished dish: Bursts of flavor and color, healthy and filling!

Prep and cook time: about 1 hour

Cost: about 5$ for two people.