Beet & Greens Tart
When I tell my friends that I like to watch tv-series on my phone and movies on my computer – simultaneously – they often give me that ”you-are-weird” look. It doesn’t matter that I try to explain that it can be very stressful to be the father of two kids, run a family business and have a blog, so watching tv-series and movies is a nice way to de-stress. And since I don’t have much time to myself, I try to make the most of it, hence the double screens. For many years, I just fast-forwarded through movies (don’t judge) but I have realised that this is a much better way. When I fast-forwarded I often missed essential parts of the plot so I had to rewind several times, and that kind of defeated the purpose. I of course realise that one of the points of movies and tv series is to relax, but in some upside-down way I just feel like I get twice as much relaxation done. Imagine how effective I could be if I learned to multitask while sleeping! (I have already tried watching movies while sleeping and unfortunately it’s just not my thing, even if I’m a fan of the idea.)
Luise isn’t very understanding either, I have explained to her that Sherlock Holmes (the one living in New York with Lucy Liu as an assistant) can watch 10 different televisions at the same time, but she told me that I am being ridiculous (I still don’t understand if she means that I’m ridiculous for making Sherlock Holmes references or because Sherlock Holmes is a pretty awesome guy and I’m ridiculous for even trying to compare myself with him?).
Anyway, today’s recipe is a beet tart. It’s not very complicated to make and it’s really delicious. Perfect for a lunch or a picnic. You can probably make it while watching Sherlock Holmes, but I wouldn’t recommend to simultaneously watch another movie. It’s a one-screen kind of recipe. Mostly because you need to grate beets and I have had enough accidents with the box grater to know that two screens and a box grater is more than even I can handle. I am sure Sherlock could pull it off though.
The tart crust is gluten free and really easy to handle, in fact, it might be our best tart crust ever. I usually just press the dough into a case without using a rolling pin, but this time I rolled it out between two sheets of baking paper and it came out real pretty and easy to handle. However, you need 3 different types of flour and if you think that’s too much, feel free to replace it with your own favourite tart crust recipe.
Given that I’ve been talking about beetroots and Sherlock Holmes, I could easily make some references to blood stains in our kitchen, but I’m going to talk about the flavour and method instead. We went classic with the beet pairings. The idea is to fill up the bottom of the tart with raw grated beetroots, then we top it with sautéed onion and beet greens that are mixed with beaten egg, plant milk, crumbled goat’s cheese, mint and walnuts. And right before we eat it, we usually drizzle some raw honey on top because the sweetness is really nice together with the goat’s cheese. Sherlock has bee hives on his roof so I’m sure he would appreciate the use of honey.
Enough with Sherlock. Now, let’s get cooking.
Beet, Goat’s Cheese & Walnut Tart
8 servings (Loosely inspired from this recipe)
If you find beetroots with fresh and good looking greens, go ahead and use them. They are usually pretty easy to find during the spring and summer. If not, just use the beetroots and replace the beet greens with spinach, chard or kale instead.
Tart crust
1 cup / 100 g / 3.5 oz rolled oats (or 3/4 cup / 200 ml oat flour), choose certified gluten free if you are intolerant
1/3 cup / 50 g rice flour
1/3 cup/ 50 g almond flour
2 tbsp linseeds (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
75 g / 5 tbsp cold butter or coconut oil, cut into dices
4 tbsp ice-cold water
Filling
2-3 beetroots (approx 1 lb/450 g),
1 red onion, peeled
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh or dried thyme
salt & pepper
2 large bunches beet greens (or spinach)
1-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup / 140 ml milk of choice, we used rice
3.5 oz / 100 g goat’s cheese / chèvre
10 fresh mint leaves
10 walnuts, lightly crushed
2 tbsp honey
Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C. Add rolled oats, almond flour, rice flour, linseeds and sea salt to a food processor and pulse until the oats have been mixed into flour. Add the diced butter and pulse a few times until you get really small pieces of butter evenly distributed in the flour. (These steps can also be made by hand.) Add the water, pulse until everything comes together. Try to form a ball with your hands. If it feels crumbly, add 1-2 tbsp extra water. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and chill for about 30 minutes.
When done, place the dough between two baking papers and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until you got a rough circle, about 1/8 inch / 5 mm thick. Carefully transfer it to a 10 inch / 27 cm tart pan. Trim off any excess dough then use a fork to prick it a few times. Blind-bake for 10 minutes to prevent the crust from getting soggy.
Peel the beetroots and grate them coarsely on a box grater or in a food processor.
Cut the onion thinly. Place a large frying pan on medium heat. Add a slab of coconut oil or butter and, when melted, spread out the onion slices evenly in the pan. Fry for 4-5 minutes and then shake the pan and fry them on the other side. Add garlic and thyme and fry for about 30 seconds before adding half of the beet greens (or spinach) together with apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. When the greens have wilted down, add the rest, stir around and then take the pan off the heat. Beat the eggs together with the milk and then crumble in the goat’s cheese finely. Add sautéed vegetables and mint leaves and stir around.
Arrange the grated beets at the bottom of the tart, reserve some for the top. Pour the egg and greens mixture over the center, make sure that the cheese is somewhat evenly distributed. We usually leave about an inch / 2 cm of beetroot untouched towards the edges (just because it’s pretty) but it’s not necessary. Make sure the filling is all moist from the liquid. Tuck in walnut pieces here and there at the top and drizzle over the remaining beetroot shreds. You can drizzle some honey on top before baking if you prefer a bit of caramelised top, or just save it for after it’s baked (or do both if you prefer ir a bit sweeter). Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden and firm. Serve with a dollop of Turkish yogurt and some drizzled honey on top.
*************
Oh, one other thing, completely unrelated to Sherlock Holmes and Beet Tarts. We’re going to Milan next week to talk about the Italian edition of our (first) book. We will be talking, cooking a recipe and have a book signing at Corriere della Sera’s food event Cibo a regola d’arte on Thursday 21st May at 5.30pm. The event is free and will take place in Triennale – salone d’Onore. Hope to see some of you there!
Minted Summer Couscous with Watermelon and Feta- Simply Ancient Grains
I have a pile of cookbooks sitting on my side table that I’ve been wanting to share with you. This year has been a big year for books by people I admire (and the fall is showing no sign of a slow down). It feels like such a wonderful time for fresh, seasonal cooking in terms of books. This is exciting and slightly bad- I’m going to need a bigger book shelf (because I’m still a physical book lover- none of these ‘ebooks’!)
The book I wanted to share with you today is by one of my favorite authors. I first learned about Maria from her first cookbook. My mom had picked it up and sometimes when I’m at her house, I raid her cookbook collection (and by raid, I mean borrow for an extended period of time). I had just started my path down whole grains when I picked up Ancient Grains for Modern Meals. I fell in love with Maria’s creative use of grains and she is one of the biggest proponents of ancient grains.
Her newest book, Simply Ancient Grains, is a wonderful follow-up to her first book. The cookbook spans breakfast through mains and to desserts. It’s a good sign when I flip through a cookbook and want to make nearly every recipe. I started with the giant spelt pancake with squash blossoms (not only creative but beautiful too) and followed it up with this summer couscous. Fruit and grains has been a theme for me this summer (starting with this cherry and quinoa salad). The salad is light, refreshing, and perfect for any picnic or cookout.
If you’re a grain lover like myself, I highly recommend checking out both Maria’s books. They are both a wonderful inspiration to really dive into the world of Ancient grains!
See the Recipe.
The post Minted Summer Couscous with Watermelon and Feta- Simply Ancient Grains appeared first on Naturally Ella.
Hamilton Beach 70730 Bowl Scraper Food Processor Review
Related Processor Products
Making Fitness Work for You: How to Exercise at Home
As passionate as we are about food and health, we know simply eating a whole foods diet is only one piece of the puzzle. Staying fit and leading an active lifestyle is just as important to overall wellness. Here’s the secret we’ve found to fitting in regular exercise: making it work in your lifestyle and with your personality. In this next post in our Healthy + Whole series, here’s a bit about where we’ve come, and what our fitness routine looks like now.
Like many Americans, my life is non-stop. Weekdays are packed minute-by-minute between running a business, running a blog, running to social commitments…ironically leaving little to no time for actual physical running! Until about 10 years ago, regular fitness often took a back seat in my life to professional or artistic pursuits, socializing, or, well, anything to give me a good excuse.
I must confess: I’ve never been a gym person. I don’t feel inspired around exercise equipment and mirrors and big muscles. Instead, I feel inspired when I’m in my home, walking in my neighborhood, dancing, or hiking up a mountain. After some ill-fated attempts at becoming a gym regular, I realized a gym membership was not the answer.
Instead, several years ago as an experiment, I started using some Pilates DVDs. To my surprise, within a few months I started to slim down and build muscle without even having to leave my home, which was perfect for my busy schedule. A tradition of waking up early before work to do Pilates began. While I didn’t look forward to the early mornings, I felt great and it left my evenings free. After we got married, Alex encouraged me to start some new videos, partly because I could recite Denise Austin by heart but mostly to start working some new muscle groups. We decided it was time for some cardio as well, and purchased elliptical machine for our home. I started alternating cardio (while listening to my favorite podcast) with strength training workouts on weekday mornings, but left the weekend free for “rest” from my weekday workouts. 7 days a week sounded burdensome, but 5 weekdays: that was doable.
What started as an experiment turned into a tradition of exercise that Alex has now joined me on. He’s pushed to prioritize strength training, so we’ve moved to using You Tube videos in our attic workout space. And for cardio, we’ve started jump rope (surprisingly difficult), and just purchased a stationary bike to replace our elliptical, since it’s smaller and can provide an even more targeted workout. And when he doesn’t want to get up, we carve out some time in the evening.
Overall, we’ve found that creating a fitness plan in our home has worked surprising well. We’re able to exercise doing what we want, when we want — and even better, it’s working! Our new strength training regimen has allowed us to build some serious muscle while enjoying some time together.
Below are a few tips on how to start a workout routine in your home, as well as a plan of what we do and some links to equipment we use. We’d love to hear your thoughts on exercise, how you’ve made it work for you, or where you’re looking to grow!
1. Embrace your identity. Before I became interested in cooking, I had a very strong identity about who I as not. “I’m not a cook. I’m not a crunchy granola hippie who loves health food and wears yoga pants.” In the same way, I had the same prejudices about being into fitness. “I’m not a body builder. I’m not a runner. I don’t wear spandex and sports bras.” But guess what? You don’t need to change your identity or your personality to start integrating fitness into your life. Same with cooking healthy foods. You can still be you, even if your habits might start to look different.
2. If it doesn’t work, ditch the gym. With the craziness that is my life, there’s just not enough time in the day to drive to a gym, exercise, shower, and drive home. To make working out work for me, I get up 30 minutes early before work to exercise in my home. This saves the time of taking a trip to the gym, and I have my evenings free to catch up at the office or go for a walk with a friend. I started out with just an exercise mat, and have since purchased some free weights to go along with our exercise videos.
3. Work out, then rest. Making a goal of working out 7 days per week for the indefinite future is daunting. We’ve found that aiming to work out every weekday works for us, since we’re able to be more naturally active on the weekends, especially in the summer. This also gives your muscles a break and a chance to rebuild.
4. Give yourself grace. Lots of it. Working out regularly is hard work, and it takes diligence to build up a routine and find what works for you. If you have some rough patches and stop/starts, it’s ok! Give yourself the grace to move forward, and try not to guilt-trip yourself into giving it up altogether. (We’ve been there.)
What We Do: In-Home Workouts
- Daily: Walk as much as possible during the day (I use a Fitbit to track my steps and shoot for 8,000 to 10,000)
- Weekly (~30 minutes total on weekdays):
Strength training + light cardio You Tube videos, 20-30 minutes / 4-5 times per week
Cardio on elliptical or stationary bike, ~20 minutes / 3 times per week (to keep your interest, try listening to podcasts!) - Weekend:
Bike rides
Walking dates with friends
Dancing! (I love it, he hates it)
What We Use
- You Tube channel we created for you with some of our favorite workouts
- Jump rope
- Free weights (5s and 8s for me, 10s and 20s for him)
- Stationary bike or Elliptical (note that the elliptical is a bit of an investment, but it’s paid off for us! We’ve used ours regularly for 5+ years)
- Exercise mats
Almond Butter Toast with Honey & Strawberries
Here’s another in the “not really a recipe, more of an idea” category, but honestly, those are my favorite. When I’m stuck in a rut with meals, it’s nice to have a little inspiration even if it’s just to put almond butter on toast. Or tomatoes with spaghetti and fresh basil. Or yogurt with cherries and honey — those easy combinations that are somehow easily forgotten.
This meal is an easy breakfast / snack idea using all local goodies from our local farmer’s market: bread from Amelia’s, almond butter from Pure Good Foods (hi, new friend Rachel!), strawberries from Annabelle’s Garden, and honey from Wildflower Ridge. It’s fun to stretch your imagination to combine local goods together, which is actually how we got into cooking in the first place. When we first began learning about food, we found it was easier to be creative within parameters, the sort of Iron Chef approach of making something with what’s on hand (basil, tomato, zucchini – go!). We hope this simple idea sparks some inspiration for you; we’ve included our friend Ashley’s almond butter recipe below if you’re ready to give it a go yourself.
On a more personal note, it’s almost the middle of summer in the blink of an eye! Next week, we’re headed off to Alaska for a summer vacation with my family. I’m especially excited to see my sister, who lives in Burma, since visits are few and far between when you’re halfway across the world. We’ll be spending most of our time in Juneau and the surrounding area. Let us know if you have any travel tips, and we’d love to know if we have any readers in that part of the country?
Hope you are all well and enjoying your summer–let us know what you’re up to in the comments below. (Seriously, we’d really love to hear from you.) And if you’d like, follow along on our travels / kitchen on Instagram – we love to share life and hear from you over there too!
Almond Butter Toast with Honey & Strawberries
by: a Couple Cooks
Serves: 1
What You Need
What To Do
- If desired, make the almond butter.
- Slice a thick piece of artisan bread and toast it.
- Core and thinly slice the strawberries.
- When the toast is done, spread liberally with almond butter and drizzle with honey. Place strawberry slices on top and enjoy.
Waring Pro DF280 Professional Deep Fryer, Brushed Stainless Review
Matcha Eggs Benedict
Here’s a final recipe to round out our latest breakfast kick. We’ve been wondering: do you eat breakfast? Most days our breakfasts are simple with peanut butter toast or oatmeal, but on the weekends we like to mix it up when time allows. How abut weekend breakfasts or brunches? There’s something so comforting about the concept, like a little reward for making it through the week!
This recipe is a twist on an old standard: eggs Benedict, healthy style (we couldn’t help it). This “healthy hollandaise” sauce is made mostly of Greek yogurt, with a little lemon, touch of butter, and some green tea for an unexpected kick. We’ve been working with a green tea powder company to come up with some creative savory uses for the green stuff, and this is one of our favorites. Don’t expect it to taste quite like a true hollandaise, but the tart yogurt and lemony zest goes quite well with the eggs and makes for a satisfying, savory breakfast. The matcha brings a vibrant green color to the dish, and after tasting many formulations of the green sauce, this one ended up as the winner. We hope you enjoy it – cheers to weekend breakfasts!
(And don’t forget brinner. On many a busy weeknight, brinner saves us.)
If you’re interested in the nutritional benefits of matcha, check out this post for a brief description and a link for more information.
Our Latest for Breakfast/Brunch/Brinner
Almond Butter Toast with Strawberries and Honey
Scrambled Eggs with Matcha and Lime
Dippy Eggs with Cheese Fried Toast Soldiers
Strawberry Rhubarb Hazelnut Muffins
Soft Scrambled Eggs with Goat Cheese and Asparagus
Breakfast Parfait with Roasted Strawberries
Waffle Party
Matcha Eggs Benedict
by: a Couple Cooks
Serves: 4 (2 stacks per person)
What You Need
- ¼ cup melted butter
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- Juice from 1 lemon (~ 3 tablespoons)
- 1 ½ teaspoons matcha (we used Aiya Cooking Grade Matcha)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon honey
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ~¼ cup warm water
- 8 eggs
- 4 whole grain English muffins
- Chives for garnish
- Edible flowers for garnish, if desired (we used nasturtium flowers from our garden, only because we had them onhand)
What To Do
- Melt ¼ cup butter. In a bowl, mix together ¼ cup melted butter, 1 cup Greek yogurt, juice from 1 lemon (~ 3 tablespoons), 1 ½ teaspoons matcha, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon honey, and ¼ teaspoon kosher salt. Mix thoroughly to combine. Add warm water a few tablespoons at a time to thin out the sauce, up to ¼ cup.
- Poach 8 eggs. Toast 4 whole grain English muffins. Thinly slice the chives.
- To serve, place poached eggs on English muffin halves, drizzle with sauce and garnish with chives.
This recipe was developed for Aiya Matcha.
Summer Pasta with Smashed Tomatoes, Peaches & Mozzarella
We have been cooking this quick little dinner recipe rather frequently during the summer. At a first glance, it might seem like it’s just a classic/boring fresh tomato pasta. But when you consider the context: hot summer days, family time, ripe tomatoes in season, everyone is hungry but no one feels like cooking … you’ll realise that it’s exactly the kind of simple dinner that we all need more of. We have of course given this dish our own schwung. Instead of just serving tomatoes fresh, we squeeze/punch/smash them up a bit so they get softer and release some of that lovely juice that gets mixed with olive oil, a splash of the hot pasta water, fresh basil, garlic and pickled capers. Already there, you got yourself a pretty great flavor combo. But then we throw in a handful of peach slices for extra sweetness, delicious toasted pine nuts and some large chunks of creamy buffel mozzarella, which makes it Italian-grandmother-kind-of-awesome.
You can serve this with any type of pasta. In our home we usually use various sorts of gluten free (buckwheat is a favourite) or whole grain pasta or spiralized/shredded zucchini (also known as zoodles), but here we are using bean linguine, made entirely from dried beans and therefore naturally vegan, gluten free and high in protein. This pasta has a delicious flavour and a nice chewy texture. We have seen various sorts of bean pastas starting to pop up in supermarkets and health food stores – soybean pasta, chickpea pasta and black bean pasta – so keep an eye out for those next time you are out shopping for pasta.
In this dish the quality of the ingredients is everything. Use only fresh, ripe tomatoes and peaches and make sure to choose your favourite olive oil.
If you want a creamier sauce, you can sub the mozzarella for ricotta cheese + some lemon juice, which also is really awesome. You can of course also add parmesan cheese if you prefer. For a vegan option, I think it’d be interesting to work with a softer type tofu instead of the cheese. Perhaps pre-marinate it for a while in olive oil and fresh Italian herbs.
Pasta with smashed raw tomatoes, peach & mozzarella
Serves 4
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp pickled capers
500g ripe tomatoes
3-4 sprigs fresh basil, leaves picked and chopped, save some for garnish
a few lugs of cold-pressed olive oil
a pinch sea salt and black pepper
200 g bean pasta or other gluten free pasta alternative or zucchini noodles
30 g pine nuts
2 peaches or nectarines
200 g / 7 oz mozzarella cheese
1 handful rucola/aragula/rocket salad
Mince the garlic very finely. Mash the capers with the back of a knife. Divide the tomatoes in half. Chop the basil. Place everything in a large serving bowl and add a few glugs of olive oil, salt and pepper. With your hands, squeeze or punch the tomatoes until soft and juicy. This tecnique creates a delicious pasta sauce. Cook the pasta in lightly salted boiling water according to the instructions on package. Meanwhile, lightly toast the pine nuts in a skillet on medium heat. Slice the nectarines and tear the mozzarella in smaller pieces. When that pasta is done, reserve about 1/2 cup / 100 ml of cooking water and drain the rest. Add the pasta immediately to the serving bowl while it’s still hot, toss with the tomato ‘sauce’ and rucola until well mixed, add some of the cooking water if you want to make it a little juicier. Decorate with peaces, mozzarella cheese, pine nuts, arugula, a few whole basil leaves and an extra drizzle of olive oil. Ready to serve.
