Your Heart Might Skip a Beet - Tips and Techniques Part II

Let's break this down.

1 beetroot = <€1 (I used half per portion so ~€0.50)

Gorgonzola and mascarpone = €2.50 (I used just a about 5% of it)

Pecans = ~€3 for about 100g (by far the most expensive but I only use about 3 pecans here)

Lime = ~€0.40 (I use about a quarter)

All the herbs are foraged aka picked from the wild so it's free.

And so one portion costs somewhere around €1.50 to make. You would, however, probably pay at least €10 for this in a restaurant. Probably more around the €12-15 range. Learning to cook is not only plenty fun, stimulates your creativity, but will also save you tons of money. The fantastic thing? There is not much cooking involved in this dish but is definitely a show-stopper.

One thing I do not do is buy vacuum packed precooked beets from the supermarket. I don't think the flavour you get, or texture, does the beetroot any justice at all.

Method:

Because I don't have an oven, I pan roast my beets and it works great. I first coat my beetroot in olive oil and season with salt. I then wrap it well in aluminium foil. Doing this achieves two main things. First, it prevents the beet from bleeding out. Second, as it roast, the beetroot almost also steams in the aluminium foil.

Tip: I would argue that if you ever cook/roast beetroots, you should always want to wrap them in foil.

I put a pan on a high heat to start. Once it is smoking, I put my wrapped beetroot on. With the high heat, I want to almost char my beetroot to develop a slight smokey flavour. I do this for about 5+ minutes, turning the beetroot ever-so often. I then lower the heat to just under a medium and just leave the beetroot to gently roast for another 20 minutes. Because it is roasting on a pan, I turn the beetroot about every 5 minutes so it cooks evenly. Note, I do not want the beetroot fully cooked; I want it al dente. With this, you not only get a good texture, but also a balance between the natural raw sweetness from the beet and a stronger flavour from sugars that are released when cooking. Aesthetically, I also want to preserve the spiral pattern in the beetroot (that disappears if it is fully cooked when the colour completely bleeds through). Tip: I would say that if you are cooking vegetables, it should typically be to an al dente.

Because I am making a carpaccio, I thinly slice my beets starting from the top. I use a sharp knife but using a mandolin will give you perfectly uniform slices. But you can also cut your beets however you want really. Cubes, wedges, whatever. Season with salt and pepper with a splash of olive oil and lime. The olive oil compliments the earthiness of the beets and adds another layer of fragrance. The acidity from the lime lifts the dish. I use lime and not lemon as I want tartness but not sweetness (where lemons are sweeter than limes).

Tip: Finish a dish with olive oil for earthiness. You also almost always want to end off with a touch of acidity (citrus or vinegar etc). Acidity wakes the tastebuds and makes the dish more vibrant.

For the gorgonzola mascarpone créme, I use a spoon to whip gorgonzola, mascarpone, and just a splash of cream in proportions of your liking. If you like things sweet, add more mascarpone. If you enjoy a salty and almost musty flavour, add more gorgonzola. The cream is just to homogenise the two cheeses together. This mixture will be delicious with any vegetable or nut and cracker platter. I might try to do a photo process of how to do a quenelle later or you could Google it.

With the herbs, I use an Android app called PlantSnap. You take a picture of a plant, the app with match it with its database of 585,000 (90%) plant species. It will then tell you if it is toxic. If it isn't, pluck it, taste it, and if it is yummy, use it.

For example, here I use, among other things, dandelion petals that have a subtle flowery sweetness. The leaves of the dandelion make a fantastic pesto. So do pine leaves make a great pesto which I did for a lunch party couple of weeks back. Although I don't think anyone knew that was what they were eating.

Things to remember? Avoid foraging close to busy roads where plants pick up on toxins and places where pesticides might be used. I wash what I forage gently under cold water (or in a pot of cold water with a splash of vinegar) and leave it on a paper towel to dry. So be daring! Trust your senses. And have a fantastic time. (: