Beet and Carrot Chips with Tzatziki

I came across a recipe for beet chips recently and was intrigued. It seemed relatively easy, didn’t involve frying the beets (I don’t have a deep fryer, and the idea of deep frying something kind of makes me sick), and appeared to be a great way for me to use some of the beets I received in my CSA share. I decided to bring it a step further and try to make carrot chips at the same time as well as a dip to go with them. I had both normal beets and white beats so I was really hoping this would turn out colorful!
The tiny ones are carrots, the others are red & white beets

Ingredients for chips:
2 white beets
2 red beets
2 large carrots
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups water
2 cups sugar

Ingredients for tzatziki:
1 container of Greek yogurt (I used 0%)
1/4 cup fresh chopped dill
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 a cucumber, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

To begin, combine the water and sugar in a saute pan and bring to a boil. While the mixture is heating, peel the beets with a vegetable peeler. Chop off most of the leaves on top, but leave a bit to use as a handle when using the mandoline slicer.

When the liquid has boiled, remove from heat and add the beets to the liquid. Let sit for 15 minutes.
I used raw sugar, which is why it’s brown
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. While the beets are soaking, use a mandoline slicer to thinly slice the carrots. After 15 minutes, remove the beets, dry them off with a paper towel, and thinly slice with the mandoline slicer. Arrange on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper.
Cook for 40 minutes or until they begin to crisp slightly. While the chips are baking, prepare the tzatziki. Combine the chopped dill, lemon, zest, garlic, cucumber, salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl.

Mix in the Greek yogurt.

Cover and refrigerate until the chips are done.

Allow the chips to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes after removing them from the oven. Carefully remove from the baking sheet.

The beets and especially the carrots really shrink up, so if you can, use quite large beets and carrots.  I think mind turned out too tiny for my liking. I also think I sliced them a bit too thin, they really don’t seem like they’d stand up to the dip too well.
they are fun looking though!

Place the chips in a bowl and serve with the tzatziki. Enjoy!

This recipe makes a whole lot of tzatziki, probably more than you’ll use on the chips. Tzatziki is great with pita chips, as a condiment on grilled meats, stuffed grape leaves, and crudites so you’ll have plenty of options to use the rest of the dip.
Beet and Carrot Chips with Tzatziki
Cuisine: Appetizer, Sides, Vegetarian
Author: I Can Cook That
Ingredients
  • Ingredients for chips:
  • 2 white beets
  • 2 red beets
  • 2 large carrots
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 cups sugar
  • Ingredients for tzatziki:
  • 1 container of Greek yogurt (I used 0%)
  • 1/4 cup fresh chopped dill
  • Juice and zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 a cucumber, finely chopped
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. To begin, combine the water and sugar in a saute pan and bring to a boil. While the mixture is heating, peel the beets with a vegetable peeler. Chop off most of the leaves on top, but leave a bit to use as a handle when using the mandoline slicer.
  2. When the liquid has boiled, remove from heat and add the beets to the liquid. Let sit for 15 minutes.
  3. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. While the beets are soaking, use a mandoline slicer to thinly slice the carrots. After 15 minutes, remove the beets, dry them off with a paper towel, and thinly slice with the mandoline slicer. Arrange on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Cook for 40 minutes or until they begin to crisp slightly. While the chips are baking, prepare the tzatziki. Combine the chopped dill, lemon, zest, garlic, cucumber, salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl.
  5. Mix in the Greek yogurt.
  6. Cover and refrigerate until the chips are done.
  7. Allow the chips to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes after removing them from the oven. Carefully remove from the baking sheet.
  8. Place the chips in a bowl and serve with the tzatziki.
3.1.09

Seared Salmon with Basil Oil

Yes. Another salmon recipe. I can’t help it, I love the stuff. And when you are able to purchase a salmon fillet that looks as gorgeous as this one did, you have no choice but to keep it simple and let the natural delicious salmon flavor shine through. This recipe takes less than 20 minutes, and can be made even more quickly if you make the basil oil the day before.
Ingredients (serves 4):
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound salmon fillet, skin still on
Salt and pepper, to taste
Basil oil
1/2 cup fresh basil, firmly packed
1/4 cup olive oil

Continue reading Seared Salmon with Basil Oil

Roasted Beets with Tahini

There is a restaurant in Philadelphia called Zahav that serves modern Israeli food. I went there for my birthday last December, and am still thinking about their tasty hummus and absolutely fantastic salatim, a selection of 8 little salads that you scoop up with their house baked laffa. All of the salads were really delicious, but the pureed beet salad was by far the happiest surprise offered. So when my CSA share came with beets this time around, I knew exactly what I was going to make… or try to make at least. I basically made a hummus, substituting in roasted beets for the chickpeas. My version is probably not all that close, to the one served as Zahav but I’m still happy with the results.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of beets (mine came with 5)
2 tablespoons tahini
The juice and zest of 2 lemons
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Walnuts, for topping

To roast the beets, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Remove the tops, wash to remove all dirt, and arrange on a baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil and add a generous amount of salt.
Cook for 40 minutes or until you can easily stick them with a fork. My beets were on the smaller side, so you may need to up the time to 1 hour.
Allow to cool completely. Remove the skin of the beets by rubbing them with a paper towel. This is surprisingly easy, I promise.

Roughly chop the beets.

Add the beets, tahini, lemon juice, lemon zest, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper to a food processor.

Process until smooth.

Transfer to a serving dish and top with chopped walnuts. Serve with cucumbers, pita, broccoli, cauliflower, or anything else you’d like to dip in this lovely little dish.
If you’d prefer, you can add in a can of rinsed chickpeas to make a beet hummus. Another alternative would be to add some Green yogurt, to taste, to make a creamier version of this dish. Enjoy!

Sauteed Pea Tendrils

Pea tendrils (or pea shoots) are the leaves from a snow pea plant. They have a bit of a spinach-pea taste, delicate and very tasty. Before receiving them in my CSA share, I just thought they were used in a stir fry or as a topping. But these little guys are really delicious in a simple saute.

Ingredients:
Pea tendrils
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, smashed and cut in half
Salt, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic cloves and cook for 2 minutes, until sizzling but not browned.
You can either remove the garlic, or keep it in there to add more garlicky flavor. Add the pea tendrils and salt to taste.
Saute for 1-2 minutes until slightly wilted but still maintaining its shape. That’s it! So simple, so yummy.

Cilantro Lime Hummus

I can never have enough hummus, it is one of my favorite snacks (although I tend to eat so much of it, it’s not really a snack!) I’ve had hummus on the brain for a while now. Be Well Philly must have read my mind, because they posted this great Cilantro Lime hummus recipe that I just had to try. As a plus, cilantro came in my CSA share this week!

Ingredients:

  • 1 garlic scape, roughly chopped (or 2 cloves garlic)
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 14-oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup tahini
  • 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
  • Juice and zest of 2 limes

Continue reading Cilantro Lime Hummus

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

I think I’m on a hummus kick. Or maybe I’m feeling particularly lazy dinner-wise this week, and hummus is a quick and easy thing to make. Whatever the reason, it is hummus overload on this website. I have a good feeling no one is complaining though. One of the most appealing things about hummus is how versatile it is. Here is my version of roasted red pepper hummus.
Ingredients:
1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained
1/3 cup tahini
The juice and zest of 1 lemon juice
1 jar of roasted red peppers (about 3 peppers)
1 garlic scape, chopped (or 2 garlic cloves)
1/4 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
For dipping:
Grape tomatoes
Pita bread
Cucumber

First, prepare your red peppers. Remove the peppers from the jar. Take two of the peppers and roughly chop. You will use these in the actual hummus. Finely chop the remaining red pepper as a topping for the hummus. Set the finely chopped red pepper aside.
Combine everything (chickpeas to salt and pepper) in a food processor.
Blend until smooth.
Top with some of the remaining red pepper. Serve with pita, cucumber slices, or tomatoes.
Roasted red pepper hummus is one of my favorite. It always ends up tasting so smooth and creamy, it makes me so happy.  The tiny addition of cumin gives a light heat to the hummus which I really enjoy. If you’re not a fan, feel free to omit the cumin. I loved the scapes in this hummus. Raw minced garlic can sometimes be overbearing in hummus, so the subtlety of the scapes was perfect.

Truffled Roasted Potatoes

I was so excited to receive red potatoes in my CSA share this week. I love roasted red potatoes with fresh herbs, but I had a little bit of white truffle oil left that I wanted to use. I found this recipe for Truffled Roasted Potatoes from Cooking Light which sounded delicious.

Ingredients:
1 small container of red potatoes, washed and quartered
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic scapes, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon white truffle oil
1 teaspoon each of chopped fresh thyme leaves, sage leaves, and rosemary

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Wash your red potatoes thoroughly, but gently. (The skin of red potatoes is fragile). I used a little brush to lightly buff off the dirt under warm running water.

before
after

Cut the potatoes into wedges: quarters for the larger potatoes, and halves for the smaller potatoes, and arrange on a cookie sheet.

Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes and sprinkle with garlic scapes, salt and pepper.

Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are brown and slightly wrinkled.

While the potatoes are cooking, chop your thyme, sage, and rosemary. Combine.

Remove the potatoes from the oven, drizzle with truffle oil, and sprinkle with the herb mixture.

This was fantastic. I honestly couldn’t stop eating the potatoes. Truffle oil is such a great ingredient, although it is a bit of a splurge. Truffle oil is usually added at the end of a dish, the oil is too delicate to be subjected to high heat. A little bit of truffle oil goes a long way though so do not overpour! When I make this recipe in the future, I plan on using normal minced garlic (2-3 cloves), the garlic scapes were quite burnt from the oven so I didn’t get any of the garlic taste from them. Boo.

Lemon Broccoli

I’m not going to lie. Broccoli is not my favorite vegetable. I have a tendency to pass over it for more favored choices. But I received broccoli in my CSA half share this week, so I decided to give it another try. I used this recipe from Oxmoor House as a starting point, and adapted the recipe for my tastes.
Ingredients:
  • 1 head broccoli, cut into bite-sized florets
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • Juice and zest from 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Continue reading Lemon Broccoli

Sangria

For Father’s Day, I wanted to make my dad a somewhat traditional sangria. He is a man who has nothing and wants nothing (which is probably a result of having two daughters and a wife who want everything), but he does love a good sangria. I hope he likes it!
Ingredients:
1 bottle of Rioja wine
1/2 cup brandy
1/4 cup triple sec
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup cranberry juice
3 table spoons simple syrup
1 apple, cored
1 orange, cut into thin slices
1 lemon, cut into thin slices
1 lime, cut into thin slices
1 peach/nectarine, pitted and cut into wedges
Ginger ale, to taste

Combine the wine, brandy, triple sec, orange juice, cranberry juice and simple syrup. Stir.
Prepare all of your fruit.
Add the fruit to the wine mixture and refrigerate for about 1 hour.
When ready to serve, pour sangria into a glass and top with the ginger ale to taste.
I took only one sip of this, so my dad will have to be the true judge of this recipe. It seemed to taste good to me: not too sweet and still a hint of actual wine. You can make a bunch of substitutes for this recipe. If you don’t have the time to make simple syrup, just use 3 tablespoons sugar and stir until it dissolves in the wine mixture. Feel free to substitute or eliminate some of the fruit choices: blackberries would also be a nice addition in the sangria.

Grilled Watermelon

We kind of went on a grilling spree this week. (And by “we” I mean my boyfriend and his roommate. I only did the prep work.)
We were throwing basically anything on there. Burgers, chicken, asparagus, salmon… and watermelon. So. Here’s a super simple recipe for grilled watermelon!

Ingredients:
Honey
Sliced watermelon

Spread a little bit of honey on each piece of watermelon.

Place on a grill for about 2 minutes on each side.

Or until grill marks appear on the watermelon.

It’s amazing that grilling watermelon for a few minutes completely changes the taste of the watermelon. It’s quite tasty! The sugars in the watermelon and honey caramelize, making a new taste to the fruit. Yum!

Grilled Marinated Asparagus

Tonight, I get a night off from cooking! Sort of. My boyfriend and his roommates are firing up the grill and doing the hard part, so all I have to do is make various marinades for the food. We had some asparagus lying around so I decided to just make a simple marinade to make this Grilled Marinated Asparagus.

 

Ingredients:
1 bunch of asparagus
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 2 large garlic cloves)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon chopped onion flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all the ingredients not including the asparagus. Mix well.

Prepare the asparagus. Remove the rough bottoms of the stems. Asparagus tends to snap where the tougher part ends, or you can just cut the asparagus where you think it needs to be trimmed.
asparagus ends

Place the asparagus on a large piece of tin foil. You will make a little packet out of the tin foil.

Fold up each side of the tin foil, twisting the ends so that they stay together.

Pour the marinade over the asparagus.

Close the foil and marinate for at least one hour. You can either remove the asparagus from the foil and place the asparagus right on the grill, cooking for 6-8 minutes, turning carefully half way through, or you can put the asparagus on the grill in the foil, cooking for about 10 minutes. Either way, grill until the asparagus is tender but still has a crunch to it.
there it is. in the tin foil
This turned out really well. The balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce add a bit of tangy-ness to the asparagus without overpowering the delicious natural flavor of asparagus. Many thanks to the grill masters:
Tim
Kevin

for not letting my asparagus get soggy. It was great to only have to do the prep work on a dish… a girl could get used to this!

Grilled Marinated Asparagus

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 bunch of asparagus
  • 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 2 large garlic cloves)
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon chopped onion flakes
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

  1. Combine all the ingredients not including the asparagus. Mix well.
  2. Prepare the asparagus. Remove the rough bottoms of the stems. Asparagus tends to snap where the tougher part ends, or you can just cut the asparagus where you think it needs to be trimmed.
  3. Place the asparagus on a large piece of tin foil. You will make a little packet out of the tin foil.
  4. Fold up each side of the tin foil, twisting the ends so that they stay together.
  5. Pour the marinade over the asparagus.
  6. Close the foil and marinate for at least one hour. You can either remove the asparagus from the foil and place the asparagus right on the grill, cooking for 6-8 minutes, turning carefully half way through, or you can put the asparagus on the grill in the foil, cooking for about 10 minutes. Either way, grill until the asparagus is tender but still has a crunch to it.
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Maple Soy Glazed Salmon

Are you ready for the easiest salmon recipe, perhaps ever? The name says it all: maple-soy glazed salmon. You just use equal parts maple syrup and reduced sodium soy sauce.

 

Ingredients:
2 pieces of 5 oz salmon fillets, skin on
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos to make gluten free)
salt and pepper, to taste

Combine the maple syrup and soy sauce.

Top the salmon fillets with salt and pepper.

Drizzle the maple-soy mixture equally over the salmon.

 

I bought my salmon from a supermarket in Wilmington that inexplicably only had salmon without the skin. What the heck? Normally, I would just grill the salmon, skin side up for 2-3 minutes and then flip the salmon, skin side down and cook until done. Because we had to take into account the whole no-skin issue, we wrapped the salmon in tin foil and popped it on the grill for a good 10 to 15 minutes. (Special thanks to Kevin and Tim for doing the actual grilling part!)

 

It still turned out great! The sauce caramelizes a bit, adding some sweetness to the salmon. I really wish it could have been straight on the grill to add some charring but it was not to be. Sigh. If anyone gets the chance to actually try it this way, please let me know how it turns out!

Gazpacho

The warm days in Philadelphia keep on coming, so I think it’s time to attempt making the summer favorite: gazpacho. I wanted to do an heirloom gazpacho, but I am presently cooking out of Wilmington and the local store does not carry any. Sigh. I used this recipe from Cooking Light and just changed some of the ingredients to fit what I could find in the store.
Ingredients:
2 seeded peeled cucumbers, plus 1 for garnish
1 chopped Vidalia or other sweet onion
1 coarsely chopped red bell pepper
6 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 large tomatoes, chopped seeded & peeled
1 garlic clove, minced
1 finely chopped yellow pepper, for garnish
1 finely chopped orange pepper, for garnish
1 finely chopped tomatillo, for garnish
8 pieces of garlic bread (optional)
To begin, prepare all of your ingredients. Peel and seed 2 cucumbers. To learn how to seed a cucumber, check out my post here. Roughly chop the onion and red bell pepper. To peel a tomato, prepare a bowl with ice water and bring another pot of water to a boil.
On the bottom side of the tomatoes, cut an X into the skin.
When the water is boiling, place 2 tomatoes at a time into the water.
Keep in the water for 15 to 20 seconds, remove, and place in the ice water.
Once cooled, use a knife to peel away the skin from the X.
Repeat with remaining tomatoes.
To seed the tomato, cut the tomato in half and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Discard the seeds and roughly chop the tomatoes.
Prepped Veggies
To make the gazpacho, combine first 9 ingredients (up to the garlic).
Add 1/3 of the mixture to a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl and repeat with the remaining 2/3 vegetable mixture. Cover and chill.
When ready to serve, spoon gazpacho into bowls. Finely chop your yellow and orange peppers and tomatillo. Combine the peppers and tomatillo.
Add 2 tablespoons of the mixture to each bowl. If you’d like, you can also add a piece of garlic bread (or just a crusty piece of day old bread), 1 tablespoon goat cheese, or a teaspoon of sour cream.
This would also be a nice appetizer. Pour the gazpacho into shooter glasses and top with a teaspoon of the pepper tomatillo mixture.
You can also use the gazpacho as a pureed salsa. Prepare garlic bread. Put on a plate with a bowl of gazpacho in the center with a spoon. Guests can spoon gazpacho on top of the bread, or use the bread to dip into the gazpacho.

Garlic Scape Pesto

I’m sure you read this post title and was wondering why I’m making Garlic Scape Pesto.
This week, I received garlic scapes with my CSA half share. What the heck is a garlic scape you may ask?
When garlic is growing, the scape is the green shoot that pops out of the earth. Farmers need to trim these so that the garlic can continue to grow. But the actual green shoot also packs in a bunch of garlicky goodness, although more mild and with a touch of grass smell.
The scapes are kind of scary looking but I was willing to try using them, who knows when I’ll come across these again! Because they are a more delicate version of garlic, scapes are best used raw.
I came across a recipe for Garlic Scape Pesto on the blog In the Kitchen and on the Road with Dorie which seemed like a good way to use a bunch of the scapes. I substituted walnuts for the almonds, mainly because my poor boyfriend is allergic and I didn’t want to mistakenly serve him something with almonds in it, and I added in some basil to help cut some of the scape flavor. I also cut the recipe in half to test it out, I can always make more later!
Ingredients:
  • 5 garlic scapes, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup basil leaves
  • 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
  • Salt, to taste

Continue reading Garlic Scape Pesto

Fresh Salsa

I wanted to make quesadillas, and it called for salsa. I realized I had all of the ingredients needed to make my own on hand, so I decided to try coming up with my own salsa.

Ingredients:
3 chopped and seeded tomatoes
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 garlic scape, finely chopped (or 2 garlic cloves)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup corn kernels (I just used frozen)

I have no clue why I put olive oil in the pic, sorry

To make the salsa,  first rinse the chopped onions under very cold water. This will help remove some of the bite associated with raw onions.

To seed the tomatoes, cut off one end of the tomato and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds.

Dice the tomato.

Chop the scape as finely as possible

Cut the cilantro.

Combine the onions, garlic, chopped tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, corn, and salt. Allow to refrigerate for a few hours to get the best flavor, or overnight.

 

The corn will defrost in the fridge
There is nothing like fresh salsa. This recipe can be adapted to what makes you happy as well; feel free to add some jalapenos or another hot pepper to add some spice. As I’ve said before, a lot of color in a dish makes me so happy. The red, green and yellow brighten up the whole meal. There is enough flavor in this salsa to serve at a party with some tortilla chips, but I can’t wait to try it with my quesadilla!

 

Fresh Salsa

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 3 chopped and seeded tomatoes
  • 1 red onion, finely chopped
  • 1 garlic scape, finely chopped (or 2 garlic cloves)
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup corn kernels (I just used frozen)

Instructions

  1. To make the salsa, first rinse the chopped onions under very cold water. This will help remove some of the bite associated with raw onions.
  2. To seed the tomatoes, cut off one end of the tomato and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds.
  3. Dice the tomato.
  4. Chop the scape as finely as possible
  5. Cut the cilantro.
  6. Combine the onions, garlic, chopped tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, corn, and salt. Allow to refrigerate for a few hours to get the best flavor, or overnight.
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