Weekend Cooking..Beets in Two Parts.

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Last week, we had that recipe for corned beef...so now I had left over corned beef! 

After the last St. Patrick's Day, I believe I made corned beef hash with the leftovers, which is great, but how could I change it up a bit this time.
Happily, just in time, I saw this recipe, "Hash, Re-Hash", in the Wall Street Journal. For a variation, lets make some Red Flannel Hash.

The author,  Sarah Karnasiewicz, explains the appeal better than I ever could...

"The rugged beets that lend the dish its color and its colorful name; the soft scraps of carrot and parsnip; the waxy potatoes, their freckled skin still clinging; the ruddy corned beef: Apart, they're anything but sexy.

But dice and season and scatter them in a searingly hot pan. Watch their edges crisp and blush as the beets bleed. Slide it all onto a plate and crown the lot with a fried egg, as bright and cheerful as a buttercup.
You'll fall, and hard."

 Red Flannel Hash 

adapted from a recipe 
from chef Antonio Mora, Prime Meats

• 4-5 small beets 
• 2 small-medium carrots 
• 2 parsnips
• 4 boiling potatoes
• 2-4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 yellow onion, peeled  

• 2 tablespoons butter or bacon grease 
• 1 cup cooked corned beef, cut into 1/4-1/2 inch dice 
• Salt and pepper, to taste 
• 4-6 eggs, optional 

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap beets in foil and roast until tender, 40 minutes. When cool enough to handle, remove foil and rub off skins. Dice beets and set aside.
2. Place carrots, parsnip, potatoes, garlic and onion, tossed with a little olive oil and cut in chunks on baking sheet in oven at the same time as beets. Cook until tender, about 1/2 hour, tossing a time or two as they cook. When cool enough to handle, roughly chop onions and cut remaining vegetables into a 1/4-1/2 inch dice. Set aside.
3. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. (Avoid using a nonstick skillet, as it will prevent hash from forming a crunchy crust.) Add 1 tablespoons butter. Once pan is hot, add corned beef and all vegetables. Stir gently to combine. Season generously with salt and pepper.
4. Cook hash, stirring once or twice, until a brown crust begins to form on the bottom (though take care to avoid burning), 5-6 minutes.
Toss to flip ingredients. If skillet seems dry, add a bit more butter. Cook until bottom is crusty, another 5-6 minutes.
Stir and remove from heat. Season with more salt and pepper if desired.
Serve topped with a poached or sunny-side-up egg per serving, if you like.

 

 

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OK, I made a few changes to the original recipe. More beets..I like beets...more parsnips...I like them too. And I roasted all the vegs. Actually, not the potatoes, because I had leftover taters from my corned beef dinner. The original recipe boiled the veggies but since I had the oven going for the beets, in they went. I love roasted vegetables. It adds such a sweet flavor, much better than boiling. Added garlic too..because I love garlic.
Also, I cooked the egg right on top of the hash when it was nice and crispy. No need to dirty another pan!
I am not a huge fan of breakfast, but I must say, this was very yummy!

Now, part two of the great beet adventure.
I had bought fresh beets at the produce store, so I had the greens that I had cut off the top left over.  And I hate waste.
What to do with them? To tell you the truth, I had never had beet greens before, but greens are greens.
So, I made something up, based loosely on a few recipes I read.

Beet Greens with Beans

• 2 bunches beet greens, torn into 2-3 inch pieces, tender stems diced into small pieces
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup thinly slivered red onion
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1 15-ounce  beans, rinsed

Wash the greens very thoroughly, several times, in cold water.
Drain, but do not dry.
In a pan, heat oil, add onion and garlic and saute gently for 2-3 minutes. Add the greens, sprinkle with salt and toss until they start to wilt. Add thyme and vinegar, pepper and beans. Stir until heated through.

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Personally, I saw this usually made with cannellini beans, even kidney beans, but my favorite beans are garbanzo beans, and that is what I had on hand, so that is what I used. Free free to use what you like.

Honestly, these were much better than I had thought they might be. I need to cook more greens and these, fast and easy and very tasty, very excellent. I wish I had more! Note to self.."plant beets in garden.."

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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