Hello and welcome to March’s first Rootabaga subscription!
We have some delicious hearty veggies and a new-to-Rootabaga apple variety to share this week. I’ve also been working at exploring new ways to eat some of our mainstay winter produce, even though the vegetable rotation gets more repetitive this time of year it doesn’t mean that your meals have to! First, let’s get into what’s in the produce bags this week, then I’ll talk more about some meal ideas, including a new recipe for Stewed Lentils with Beets & Goat Cheese.
The small share has:
Red Beets – Elmridge Farm, spray-free
Turnip – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally grown
Rainbow Carrots – Elmridge Farm, spray-free
Cucumber – Den Haan Greenhouse, conventionally grown
Sweet Potatoes – Elmridge Farm, spray-free
Honeycrisp Apples – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally grown
The large share has everything above, as well as:
3lbs of honeycrisp apples instead of 2lbs
Pea Shoots – Taproot Farm, certified-organic
Onions – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally grown
A flavour combination I always love is red beets and dill. If you ask me, that’s the key to good borscht – lots and lots of dill. Inspired by my love of beets and dill, I decided to try cooking lentils with my beets this week. What came together is filling, delicious, satisfying, and a new way I’ll certainly be incorporating beets into my diet. Without further ado:
- Olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 large carrot, chopped
- 1 ½ lbs of beets, peeled and cut to 1cm cubes (half the bag)
- 1 ½ cups green lentils, soaked in water (I put mine on to soak in the morning if I’m having lentils for dinner, this makes lentils easier to digest and helps them cook faster)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon dried dill (or more to taste)
- 5 cups of water or vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- Salt and pepper
- Ran-Cher Acres Goat Cheese (I recommend plain or dill flavour)
- Heat your favourite large pot with olive oil to medium heat. Add onion and saute for 5 minutes until turning translucent. Add carrots, beets, garlic, a sprinkle of salt, and saute 5 minutes more.
- Add the rest of the ingredients, except the goat cheese. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce heat to a medium-low simmer with the lid off for 20 minutes or until the lentils and beets are tender. Once everything is cooked, taste and adjust seasonings as needed. More salt for a flavour boost, balsamic vinegar for brightness and body, or more dill.
- Remove the lentils from heat once everything is cooked and your desired consistency is reached. If you prefer a thicker dish, simmer with the lid off a bit longer. I personally don’t mind a bit of the extra broth, it's delicious with a piece of crusty bread to soak it up.
- Serve the lentil beets with crumbled goat cheese on top and an extra drizzle of balsamic vinegar if desired.
Super simple, versatile, and delicious. I made this as an easy one pot meal and served it with a slice of sourdough bread. Though it would also be good with Speerville Brown Rice or as a side dish to Cogmagun roast chicken.
Another fun new dish I tried this week is something I’ve wanted to try for a while – turnip fries! They were really simple and tasty, I’ll definitely be making them again. The finished texture is very similar to sweet potato fries in that they aren’t as firm or crisp as potato fries, but instead are soft inside with a crispy outer skin. To make them, preheat your oven to 425 degrees (hot is key for crispness). Peel the turnip and slice your fries to thin ½ centimeter (shoestring size) fries. Coat the fries in olive oil and season to your liking. I used paprika and salt, the smokey paprika is nice since turnips have a natural sweetness when roasted. Some tips for getting crispier fries: cut them small, space them out so they don’t touch on the pan, use a hot oven, and stir them every 5-7 minutes so each side turns golden brown and crisp. Mine took about 20 minutes and were really good dipped in spicy mayo!
If you’re not sure what to do with the rest of your beets, I found another beet curry recipe that I really want to try, this Sri Lankan Beet Curry: https://www.theflavorbender.com/sri-lankan-beetroot-curry/. The beets are cut into matchsticks and cooked until only al dente so they keep some of their bite, which sounds delicious and intriguing. If you’ve got a sweet tooth try these yummy beet brownies, you can’t taste the beet in the finished treats: https://selfproclaimedfoodie.com/beet-brownies/.
This week we’re also sharing honeycrisp apples in your Rootabaga! They have the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness and a really long shelf life, so they’re still crisp from the summer growing season well into March. This apple is a treat best bitten into raw. Though sliced, drizzled in peanut butter, and sprinkled with Camino Dark Chocolate Chips makes for a delicious alternative.
Thank you for your continued support! We look forward to sharing more of the season’s bounty with you next week.
Robin
