Farm fresh dinner plans

Fact: I don’t do recipes. OK, well, maybe when I bake, because baking is, in my opinion, quite close to alchemy. Specifically, I should say, I don’t follow recipes. I skim the ingredients for ideas. Why am I telling you this? Because I’m about to throw three semi-recipes at you. No quantities, no specifics, just — put this stuff together, and add as much of everything that I recommend until it tastes good. Ready?

Xpress editor Rebecca Sulock has bunches of beets and carrots — she reports that her CSA basket is chock full of them. She wants to know what she should do with all of those roots — and I imagine that there’s more like her out there, wondering the same thing.

So, these ideas are for you:

Raw beet and carrot salad:
Ingredients
Grated beets
Grated carrots
Nayonaise OR extra virgin olive oil
Seasoned rice wine vinegar (meaning the sweet kind)
Golden raisins
Toasted walnuts
Parsley, fine chopped
Squeeze of lemon
Green onion, thin sliced on bias
Salt and white pepper to taste
Method
Combine and serve

Pickled beet and carrot salad:
Ingredients
Rice wine/cider vinegar
Cane sugar
Shaved white onion
Fresh dill, chopped
Cubed or sliced raw carrot and beet
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Combine and marinate for at least one hour

Pan-steamed beets and carrots:
Ingredients
Honey
Lemon juice
Carrots sliced on thick bias
Beet wedges
Water
Olive oil or butter
Salt and pepper
Toasted and ground cumin
Chopped parsley
Chopped basil
Method
In a lidded pot, add beets, carrots, a couple of pats of cold butter, salt and pepper, about a 1/2 cup water, and a dollop of honey. Cover with lid and pan steam, checking water level occasionally — do not let pan dry out! Cook until tender, then add the remaining ingredients. This can be served on baby greens, or as a great side. Optional: finish with goat cheese or toasted nuts.