Lebanese Pickled Turnips (p. 282)

It seems fitting for me to pickle things during my pregnancy. Right? So pickled turnips, here we come.

The part that always makes me nervous about pickling things is the sterilization -- it's so easy for things to go wrong. I followed directions to a tee, boiling water and pouring it into the jar and letting it sit for 10 minutes. I also topped the lid into the remaining of the boiling water during the ten minutes.

After that, this recipe is stress free. I cut up large pieces of turnips and beets to be layered into the jar.

Then just add salt and a mixture of vinegar and water and close the jar tightly. Flip the jar every few days to re-distribute the salt. 

The pickles are ready to eat in 7 to 10 days, or can be kept longer if refrigerated. 

They become an amazing pink color, and are actually pretty tasty. 

I think I'll bring them to a 4th of July cookout on Monday to add some festive color to our eats.

turnips -- $3.27

beet -- $.92

Total Cost of Lebanese Pickled Turnips: $4.19

($.42 per serving)

Roots, Shoots, and Squash (p. 344)

This is a roasted winter vegetables dish, but a lot of the ingredients came in my CSA box this week, so, happy Memorial Day! Enjoy some winter veggies.

The nice thing about this dish is that you can pretty much throw in whatever you have and it'll come out delicious, so I made a few changes from the original recipe based on what was in my refrigerator.

The beets are cooked separately and are started before everything else, both to make sure the entire dish isn't pink and also to ensure that the beets are cooked thoroughly. Peel and chop them into small chunks and place them in a baking dish with fresh lemon juice and olive oil.

 In a small bowl, combine minced herbs (I used parsley, but you could use most anything) with chili powder (I used harissa, since I have some and it'll give the same sort of spicy kick) and stir together. The recipe calls for a pinch of this to be added to the beets before they are put in a very hot oven, but I mis-read and mixed the whole spicy herb recipe with the beets. Whoops. I didn't even notice until it was time for me to use the remainder of the mixture.

Anyway. Once the beets have begun roasting (they're supposed to take a little over an hour), begin prepping the rest of the veggies. Peel and quarter the onions and combine in a large bowl with chopped carrots and other somewhat hard veggies -- the recipe called for turnips and celery root, which I didn't have, so I used red potatoes instead. Whatever you use, be sure to wash it, remove any skins, and chop into somewhat bite-size chunks.

These are poured into a large oiled baking dish and then mixed with more olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and the rest of the herb/harissa mixture. I just made a second batch of the mixture and added it all to the potato/onion/carrots.

After about twenty minutes, add squash chunks (and in my case, zucchini chunks) to the dish. Stir well and put back in the oven.

Twenty minutes later, add leeks and garlic and stir again. Check on the beets as well.

Once the carrots are cooked all the way (about 15 minutes later) the dish is ready to come out. Top with the beets, and you have yourself a meal.

This pretty much created a feast -- it's a ton of roasted veggies. Luckily, they're pretty delicious, which I think is thanks to using harissa (and doubling the amount of it.) The veggies have a subtle heat to them, the kind that slowly invades your mouth (in a good way.) Unfortunately, my beets look a little crazy since they were covered in the parsley mixture and were in the oven for such a long time -- they definitely got a little crispy.

beets -- $2.44

squash -- $2.44

zucchini -- $2.44

onions -- $1.63

lemon -- $.42

carrots -- $.89

potatoes -- $2.44

leeks -- $2.49 (2 left)

Total Cost of Roots, Shoots, and Squash: $15.19 (this will definitely be in my lunch all week long -- it makes a whole lot.)

Tunisian Beet Salad with Harissa (p.81)

Oh, beets. You're so pretty. Let's combine you with harissa, which I love.

The beets this recipe calls for are huge -- 4 to 5 inches in diameter. I don't feel like I've ever seen beets that big, so I just bought regular ones.

After cleaning and drying the beets really well, they are oiled down and put in the oven for a seriously long time -- about two and a half hours. They come out when they're nice and tender.

Once the beets are somewhat cool, peel the skins off and dice them. Mix the diced beets with scallion, parsley, garlic, and harissa that has been diluted in red wine vinegar. Add olive oil and some salt and you have yourself a delicious little salad. Take it to Taco Night if you're feeling sassy.

Yum.

beets -- $2.59

scallions -- $.69

Total Cost of Tunisian Beet Salad with Harissa: $3.28

Beets with Yogurt and Tahini (p. 296) and Pasta with Pancetta and Beans (p. 209)

Like cabbage, I've never really made beets before, but I do like them. My dad hates beets, so I always thought that I did, too. We avoided them together. Since then, I've realized that I love them, especially with goat cheese atop a mixed green salad. Still, I've never made a beet, and probably wouldn't have recognized it at the farmer's market if it weren't signed (they're ugly little things, aren't they?) However, the color inside is my new favorite.

Beets with Yogurt and Tahini is the only beet recipe in The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, and it takes a bit longer then you'd think to make because you have to prepare the Labneh (p. 278) first. This is Lebanese Strained Yogurt, which is also apparently called yogurt cheese, which to me sounds a little disgusting. Anyway, it's just normal yogurt that has been strained for about 24 hours in a colander and/or cheese cloth. It's incredibly thick after this time period -- basically like making your own Fage (Greek yogurt).

To make the rest of the recipe, you just cook the beets (I boiled mine for about 25 minutes, which ended up to being a little too short), chop them into hunks, and then pour on a combination of Labneh and some garlic, tahini (sesame paste), and lemon juice.

For the main course, I made Pasta with Pancetta and Beans, which I'd recommend you make only if you have a large group of people -- not just the two that I made it for.  The sauce for the recipe starts with olive oil and red onion, and then you slowly add garlic, pancetta (YUM), tomatoes, and white beans. Once this thickens to a real sauce (which takes a half an hour or so), you mix it with pasta (I used farfalle) and top with some fresh parmigiana reggiano.

Both of these recipes were great. Next time I'd definitely cook the beets for more time, as they weren't quite as soft as I would have liked. Even so, the tahini sauce was awesome on them, and I think the dish would be a really good pair with a fish recipe. And anytime my husband is reaching across the table for more veggies is a good thing. Even though I don't love beans, the pasta recipe won me over with pancetta, and we both really enjoyed it. And will continue enjoying it for the rest of the week, considering the amount of leftovers we have.

And for dessert we had Krispy Kreme donuts, because we live in North Carolina, and because they just debuted two new banana flavors, and because bananas are my favorite fruit to be turned into a dessert.

beets -- $2.00

lemon -- $.89

tahini -- $7.49 (with plenty left over for other recipes)

Cost of Beets with Yogurt and Tahini: $ 10.38


canned tomatoes -- $1.29
pasta -- $2.50
red onion -- $1.47
pancetta -- $4.50
beans -- $1.79

Cost of Pasta with Pancetta and Beans: $11.55