Steamed Golden Beet Composed Salad

Pa Pa's Herb Garden

Serves 4

                The golden beet is a plant in the Chenopodiaceae family, which includes spinach, chard, and quinoa. Beets (Beta vulgaris) are highly nutritious and bolster “cardiovascular health.” Beets’ unique pigment antioxidants in the root as well as in its top greens provide protection against coronary artery disease and stroke, lower cholesterol levels, and have anti-aging effects. Beets of all types are best if roasted or steamed. This recipe steams the golden beet to highlight its subtle earthy taste.

                1              head pristine Boston lettuce

                2              medium Golden beets

                4              radishes

                ½             white onion

                8              white button mushrooms

                Dressing

                ½             orange, juiced

                1              tablespoon beet greens water

                2              tablespoons red wine vinegar

                2              tablespoons olive oil

                2              tablespoons Greek yogurt

                3              tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

                                Kosher salt and ground pepper to taste

Preparation: 

1.  Peel and very thinly slice the golden beets with a mandoline slicer. Place the slices in a steamer and put a handful of washed beet greens into the water. Steam the slices until fork tender. Reserve one tablespoon of the beet greens water. Immediately submerge the beet slices in cold water with a slice of lemon and splash of rice vinegar.  2. Select pristine radishes, red or otherwise. I like Chinese black radishes. Thinly slice with the mandolin. Submerge in water with lemon and vinegar.   3. Thinly slice the onion and submerge in water with lemon and vinegar.  4. Clean, wash and dry the Boston lettuce. Make a long whole leaf bed on four oblong salad plates. Press down to make the arrangement somewhat flat.  5. Drain the vegetables – Place an overlapping line of beet slices down the center of the lettuce; place an overlapping line of smaller radish slices on top of the beets; scatter the onion slices on top of the radishes; thinly slice the button mushrooms and place an overlapping  line of raw slices as the final layer.

Dressing:

Put the orange juice, beet water, red wine vinegar, Greek yogurt and crumbled blue cheese in a bowl and mix well with a whisk until creamy. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while briskly whisking, until emulsified.  Add kosher salt to your taste.

Presentation:

Drizzle the dressing along the line of vegetables. Grind a generous portion of pepper on top. Serve with entrée, fresh toasted bread and a crisp white wine. 

The Impossible Cheeseburger

By Richard L. Wottrich, richard.wottrich@gmail.com

Scientific American recently opined about the “impracticality” of a cheeseburger, referring to the “industrialized” global food industry making something that is seemingly natural into a factory-produced commodity.

I remember a time when you could visit your small neighborhood butcher and buy ground beef from a single animal. A local dairy provided cheese made from milk bought from a local dairy farm. The farmers market would have onions, lettuce and vine ripened tomatoes in season. The local bakery would have some hamburger buns hot from the oven. At just the right time of the summer these local ingredients came together and you could grill a cheeseburger. It was a special treat.

Today fast food outlets and globalized commodities have turned the cheeseburger into an advertising platform for empty calories. Ground beef comes from massive factory farms that floor plan over 70% of the meat in supermarkets nationally.  One burger can contain meat from over 50 animals. Cheese is overproduced and held in storage for years by the Dairy Industry, the most heavily subsidized food product in America. The onion, lettuce and tomatoes are produced out of season and shipped thousands of miles to be turned into toppings.

The price tags for the industrialized cheeseburger include:

Genetically modified crops that can stand shipping

Incredible overuse of water sources

Concentrated farming techniques that strain local environments

Fertilizer run off and resulting ocean “dead zones”

Carbon footprint of global overnight shipping of commodities

Deforestation

Nitrogen loading of water sources

This might be an acceptable price if it were improving the health and welfare of humanity. It is true that the explosion in food production has helped mitigate starvation worldwide, but malnutrition remains rampant. In wealthy countries obesity is at epidemic levels due to these “cheap” subsidized food stuffs. So we are left with an America that has over 45 million people receiving food stamps, while 100 million more are obese. Is this what we want?

Some estimates suggest that global food demand will double by 2050. The pressure to bring food to market will accelerate the industrialization of food commodities, subsidized for political reasons by various governments. Profit margins will be ever thinner and incentives to produce nutritionally valuable foods will lesson. This system will not be able to meet demand.

Local food sources supported by local buyers are part of the answer. Educating consumers about the nutritional value of foods will help them eat smarter and avoid empty calories. Removing tax subsidies for factory farms and commodities and replacing them with incentives for nutritionally valuable food sources would realign priorities and produce choices at market.

In short, think about what you are buying and feeding to your child or grandchild – act accordingly.