CHIPS AND DIP

When I shop at a big hipermercado down on the Coast, I'm on the lookout for foods and products that I don’t normally find in the village market—kale and quail, venison and violet potatoes. In the snack section, I discovered vegetable chips cooked with olive oil. I always grab a bag of them, to nosh on the drive home. 

The chips are made with beets, carrots, parsnips and purple potatoes. Something about the salty-sweetness of those vegetables makes them addictive. But the little pack is expensive. Why not make these chips at home? They’re perfect with a party dip.

Crispy vegetable chips with a creamy goat cheese dip.

Snack-pack of veggie chips from the hypermarket.

Because potato chips are fried, I supposed that beet and parsnip chips were fried too. I sliced my vegetables paper-thin (by hand, as I don’t have a mandoline) and heated a pan of olive oil. I fried each vegetable (beets, carrots, parsnips, purple potatoes and rutabaga) separately until golden, then drained the chips on a rack.

Fail! They were not crisp. The next day I spread them on a baking sheet and baked them in the oven (300ºF/10 minutes). This crisped the chips a lot. Still, why bother frying if baking does the trick?

Back to the drawing board. Happy to report, my baked chips with olive oil and sea salt turned out great.

Crispy, baked beet chips. They're sweet and salty, with a hint of olive oil. 

Headed for the chipper! Clockwise from upper left, rutabaga (nabo sueco or "Swede"), beets (remolachas), carrots (zanahorias), purple potatoes (patatas violetas) and parsnips (chirivías). Also good for making chips are taro, plantain, sweet potatoes, turnips.

If you don't have a mandoline slicer, use a vegetable peeler to shave thin strips from parsnips and carrots. 

Cut a slice off one side of the vegetable so it has a firm base on the cutting board. Aim for "paper thin"--1/16 inch. Shown are purple potatoes. Aren't they pretty?

A serrated knife works well for slicing beets, potatoes and rutabaga. 

Place each batch of sliced vegetables separately in a bowl and toss them with enough olive oil to coat them. Spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Place in preheated oven (325ºF with turbo/fan or 350ºF without fan). Bake 5 minutes and flip the slices over. Continue baking until they are golden and crisped. Time varies with each vegetable. Parsnip chips baked 12 minutes total; beets baked 20 minutes total. Expect the vegetable chips to shrink quite a lot in baking.

Baked chips can be stored in an air-tight container for up to two days. If necessary to crisp them up before serving, spread them on a baking sheet and place in preheated oven at 250ºF for 5-10 minutes.

Chip Dip

Salsa para Hortalizas Curruscantes

Chip dip is made with fresh goat cheese, seasoned with smoked pimentón

This dip starts with fresh, soft goat’s cheese (queso fresco de cabra). If not available use a log of French chêvre, Greek feta or Mexican soft cotija. Taste the dip before seasoning with salt, as the substitute cheeses may be saltier than Spanish queso fresco. Pimentón de la Vera--smoked paprika, either sweet or hot--is the main flavouring. Frying whole cloves of garlic gives them a mellow flavour.

Fresh, soft goat cheese.

6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
Oil for frying
½ cup soft goat cheese or queso fresco
¼ cup Greek yogurt
½ teaspoon hot pimentón de la Vera (smoked paprika)
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Sherry vinegar

Whole, fried cloves of garlic.

Lightly crush the cloves of garlic, just sufficiently to split the skins. Heat the oil in small skillet and fry the cloves of garlic until golden. Remove. When they are cool, slip off the skins.

Place the skinned garlic in a mini food processor with the cheese, yogurt, pimentón, cumin, salt and vinegar. Blend to make a smooth dip.

The dip keeps, covered and refrigerated, up to 5 days.



I´m thinking I'll buy myself a mandoline for Christmas and make a batch of vegetable chips every time I turn on the oven.



More recipes with beets:
Waldorf Salad with Beets.
Roasted Beet Salad with Grapefruit.
Moroccan Beet Salad.

More recipes with parsnips:
Savory Parsnip Upside-Down Cake.
Roasted Root Vegetables with Quince.

VEGAN OR NOT—A SUMPTUOUS CARROT SOUP

Springtime harvest.

Carrots are so versatile! We tend to think of them as winter vegetables, stored in the root cellar, essential to hearty cold-weather soups and stews. But pulled from the damp spring earth, carrots are bright and sweet, delicious raw or cooked.

This sumptuous carrot soup, vegan or not, with subtle spicing makes a lovely starter for a spring meal. It can be served hot or chilled, so will take you right into summer menus.

A creamy carrot soup with no cream, thickened with almonds and rice.

Chopped fresh mint gives carrots a springtime flavor.

This is a creamy soup without the dairy cream. Ground almonds and rice are the thickeners and olive oil gives richness. For a vegan version, use a well-seasoned vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.

Fresh goat's milk cheese.

The soup is good with a swirl of queso fresco or Greek yogurt. If you prefer the vegan version, just omit the cheese. Garnish with chopped fresh herbs—mint, fennel, parsley, tarragon or cilantro are all good with carrots. Chopped scallions add a sprightly touch.

Carrot Cream Soup
Crema de Zanahorias

Serves 6 to 8.

3 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup blanched and skinned almonds
5-6 carrots (12 ounces), chopped
1 leek, chopped
1 clove chopped garlic
¼ cup short-grain rice
Strip of lemon zest
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
Pinch of ground cloves
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
8 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Chopped fresh herbs and scallions to garnish
1 ounce queso fresco (soft cheese) (optional)
2 teaspoons hot water

Heat the oil in a soup pot. Add the almonds and fry on medium heat until they are toasted. Skim them out and reserve.

Add the carrots, leek and garlic to the oil. Sauté until vegetables just begin to turn golden, 5 minutes. Don’t let them brown.

Carrots and rice cook til tender.

Stir in the rice, lemon zest, ginger, cardamom, cloves and pepper. Add the stock and salt to taste. Bring the soup to a boil, cover and simmer 20 minutes.

Place the fried almonds in a blender with 4 tablespoons of the liquid from the pot. Blend to make a smooth cream. Stir it into the soup and cook until carrots and rice are very tender, 10 minutes longer.

Remove and discard the lemon zest. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender. Add the lemon juice and reheat the soup before serving. Garnish with chopped herbs and scallions. If desired, mash soft queso fresco with hot water to serve as an accompaniment. 

Garnish soup with chopped scallions and herbs. Serve softened queso fresco on the side.

Fresh goat's milk cheese is softened and mashed.

Swirl the soft cheese into the soup.

Next year perhaps I will try growing purple carrots. I bet they would make a pretty soup.

More vegetarian recipes with carrots:

Carrots with Raisins and Pine Nuts.

Minted Carrot Salad.

Millet and Carrot Pilaf.

Moroccan Carrot Salad. 

"Russian" Salad with Potatoes and Carrots.

A SLOW COOKING SORT OF DAY

Winter drags on. Today is grey, overcast and cold. Which puts me in the mood to simmer something savory all day—soup, stew or a braise. The warmth and aroma while it’s bubbling away on the stove promise a comforting meal.

Ready for all-day simmering--a pot of beef shanks.

Today I’ve got beef shanks, a cut of meat so tough that slow cooking is the only way to make it edible. The shank is the lower leg of the animal. It’s very lean muscle with sinews and connective tissue. The white membrane that encases the long, tubular muscle looks like fat, but is mostly collagen that converts into gelatin when cooked. It gives the stew flavor and substance (and causes it to set-up like a jelly when cooled).

You may know beef/veal shank better as osso buco, Italian-style braised shanks. They are cross-cut slices including the marrow bone. I’m using the boneless, cylindrical  muscle that runs the length of the bone. In Spanish, it’s called jarrete or morcillo. Morcillo is usually added to cocido, a one-pot boiled dinner, to add substance to the broth.

The shank is a tubular-shaped muscle, full of connective tissue. It needs long, slow cooking to become tender.

I made this with jarrete de ternera, boneless shank of “veal,” which is actually young beef, not true veal. Cut into thick, cross-wise slices, the meat was fork-tender in about 2 ½  hours. A larger piece of meat may take longer.

Shank meat shrinks considerably during cooking. Two to three pounds look like a huge amount of meat, but once braised, the meat loses bulk as it flavors the gravy.

I cooked the shanks on top of the stove. They can also be slow-cooked in the oven (325ºF for about four hours) or in a slow cooker (about 8 hours on low).

You can cook the shank the day before you intend to serve it. Let the stew cool, making sure the meat is submerged in the cooking liquid so that it doesn’t harden when exposed to the air. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The following day, lift off any congealed fat from the top and reheat the stew.

After removing meat, carrots and potatoes, you might want to sieve the cooking liquid/gravy. If desired, the remaining solids—the diced onions, carrots and peppers that started cooking with the meat—can be pureed to thicken the gravy.

Leftovers? Shredded, the meat makes a good filling for tacos. If lots of flavorful gravy remains once the meat is gone, cook more vegetables in it and turn it into soup.

Cooked until tender, chunks of beef shank share the stew pot with carrots and potatoes. Add other vegetables if you wish.

A hint of spring to come! While the stew was cooking, I thinned the carrot patch and added these baby ones to the pot at the last minute.

Fat carrots and baby carrots plus potatoes go into the stew.

The stew makes lots of flavorful cooking liquid. Use any that's leftover to make soup.

Meat is fork-tender after hours of cooking.

Slow-Cooked Beef Shank
Xarrete Estufado

This recipe is from Galicia in northwest Spain. In the galega language, jarrete is xarrete and estofado, stew, is estufado.

Serves 4-6.

2 ½ pounds boneless beef or veal shank
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon coarse salt
¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
1 clove
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Pinch of thyme
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ cups chopped onions
½ cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 teaspoon pimentón (paprika)
Red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup chopped tomato
½ cup dry fino Sherry
2 tablespoons brandy
4 cups meat stock or bone broth
2 bay leaves
Salt
4 carrots, peeled
1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut in 2-inch pieces
Chopped parsley, to serve

Cut the shank crosswise into 1 ½ -inch slices. Place them in a shallow bowl or tray.

Before cooking, the meat is seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and parsley.

Crush the garlic in a mortar with the coarse salt, peppercorns and clove. Place the mixture in a small bowl and add the parsley, thyme and 1 tablespoon of oil. Rub the spice mixture all over the meat. Allow to set at room temperature for 45 minutes or, covered and refrigerated, up to 8 hours.

Heat remaining 4 tablespoons of oil in a large stew pot. Brown the pieces of shank on both sides, 5 minutes, and remove them. Add the onions, carrots and bell pepper to the oil and sauté until onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the pimentón and red pepper flakes, if using. Add the tomato and continue cooking until tomato begins to fry in the oil, 5 minutes. Add the Sherry and brandy and cook 3 minutes. Add the meat stock.

Return the pieces of shank to the stew pot. Add the bay leaves and salt to taste. (Amount of salt depends on how salty the stock already is. Remember, as cooking liquid reduces, salt will intensify.) Scrape any remaining garlic-spice rub into the pot.

Bring the liquid to a boil, then cover the pot and turn down the heat to a simmer. Cook the shanks 2 hours, stirring the pot occasionally. Meat should be tender enough that it can be pulled apart easily with two forks. If not, cook another 45 minutes. Add the carrots and potatoes and cook until vegetables are tender, 30 minutes.

If desired, the gelatinous rim on the pieces of meat can be removed before serving. Serve hot garnished with additional parsley or cool and refrigerate up to 3 days. 

Beef shank also goes into Madrid Style Boiled Dinner (Cocido).

An overcast February day puts me in the mood for slow cooking. The silvery line on the horizon is the Mediterranean Sea. Not so blue today.

 

MILLET—AN ALTERNATIVE GRAIN

Whatever am I going to do with a heaping basket of thumb-sized carrots? Pulled from a garden patch that hadn’t been thinned, they never got a chance to be grown-up roots. Scrubbed, they’re great for eating raw. But, still, that’s a lot of infant carrots.

I decided the carrots—tiny ones left whole, larger ones lopped into two or three pieces—needed to be cooked with grains, rice or bulgur, maybe, for a vegetarian dish that could be a substantial side or even a main dish. Or, how about some alternatives?

Which is how I came to make millet and carrot pilaf.

Millet pilaf with carrots, peppers and zucchini.

Pearl millet.

Millet (mijo in Spanish) is the seed of a type of cultivated grass. It may be familiar as bird seed, but in many parts of the world (Africa and India) millet is an important food crop. The most common variety, pearl millet, once hulled, is a tiny round, pale golden grain. It is gluten free, but has a protein content similar to wheat. Once cooked, it makes a good substitute for rice, for bulgur, for cous cous, for small pasta such as orzo.

I made a large quantity of millet pilaf with carrots. I served it as a vegetarian main dish, topped with grated cheese.

Pilaf as a side with lamb kebabs.

I used leftovers, reheated, as a side for lamb and vegetable kebabs. I recycled the cold pilaf as tabouleh salad. I’m thinking it also would be good for stuffing eggplant and zucchini, with a cheesy topping.

Where to go next with millet? Paella?

Millet pilaf, a vegetarian main or side dish.

Turn left-over pilaf into tabouleh salad. Garnish with ripe figs.

Millet and Carrot Pilaf

The quantity of liquid in this recipe makes millet that is al dente. If you want a creamier grain, use ½ cup more liquid and cook an additional 4 minutes. Allow to set 10 minutes. Chicken stock can be used instead of water—but I preferred to keep the dish vegetarian.

Serves 6 as a side dish.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced carrots
¼ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped red bell pepper
1 clove chopped garlic
Red pepper flakes (optional)
½ cup diced zucchini
1 cup pearl millet
2 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon salt
Chopped pistachios (optional)
Chopped parsley to serve

Sauté carrots and millet.

Heat oil in a medium skillet. Add the carrots, onion, bell pepper, garlic and red pepper flakes, if using. Sauté on medium heat 5 minutes. Add the zucchini and millet and sauté a few minutes more. Pour in the boiling water and salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and lower heat to a simmer. Cook 16 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Remove the pan from heat and allow to set 10 minutes. Fluff the millet with a fork. Serve, hot or room temperature, sprinkled with chopped pistachios, if desired, and chopped parsley.

Millet Tabouleh Salad

Serves 4.

1 ½ cups cold millet pilaf (recipe above)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped preserved lemon or olives
1 cup cooked, drained chickpeas
1 tablespoon chopped scallions
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped mint
Salt and pepper to taste
Salad greens to serve
Figs or cherry tomatoes to garnish

Add the lemon juice and oil to the millet pilaf. Use a fork to combine, breaking up any lumps. Stir in the chopped preserved lemon, chickpeas, scallions, parsley and mint. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the salad with greens. Garnish with quartered figs or cherry tomatoes.

Cold grain salad with carrots, garnished with summer figs.

BRING ON THE CARROTS!

While browsing the produce section at HiperCor (grocery section of El Corte Inglés department store), I overheard a customer inquire, “¿Donde están las zanahorias de Conil?” Where are the carrots from Conil. Since when do carrots have place names?

Conil de la Frontera is a town in Cádiz province, on the Atlantic coast, better known for tuna and for its fabulous beaches. But, apparently, market gardens thrive there too and carrots are a star product.

Carrots are no big deal in Spanish cooking. Sure, you need a fat, aromatic carrot in the puchero (soup pot), but nobody actually eats it. As a main ingredient or even a side dish? Not so much. This dish is an exception to the Spanish "carrots-bleh" attitude.

Fresh mint.

If you’re thinking that carrots are a cold-weather vegetable, let me show you their springtime incarnation: this salad of marinated carrots with a sprinkling of fresh mint. The color, the flavors, the aroma are so fresh and vibrant, perfect for the season.

Baby carrot from my garden. Will they ever grow big?

My mother had a carrot joke that she used to tell little kids. The kids never got the joke, but she loved to tell it anyway. I tried it out on my grandson (when he was only eight) and he howled with laughter. 

So, Mama Rabbit, Papa Rabbit and Baby Rabbit were having a field day in Mr. MacGregor’s garden, sampling the lettuces and carrots. Mama Rabbit chomped on a great big carrot. “Papa Rabbit,” she said, disapprovingly “this carrot is pithy.” The youngun piped up, “It should be, I just pithed on it!”

 Minted Carrot Salad
Ensalada de Zanahorias con Hierbabuena

Marinated carrots with raisins, almonds and fresh mint.

This carrot dish can be served hot, cold or room temperature. It can be prepared and served immediately or left to marinate, refrigerated, overnight. In any case, chop the fresh mint and add to the carrots immediately before serving.

Serves 6 as a salad or side dish.

1 pound carrots (about 5), peeled and sliced thinly
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon pine nuts or slivered almonds
1 tablespoon chopped spring onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon raisins
1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves

Salad greens, if desired

Cook the carrots in boiling salted water until just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and refresh in cold water. Drain.

In a small skillet heat the oil and fry the pine nuts or almonds until they are lightly toasted. Skim them out and reserve. Sauté the onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Stir in the cumin and raisins.

Add the sautéed onions and raisins to the carrots with the pine nuts, vinegar, salt and pepper. Toss to combine.

Stir in the chopped mint immediately before serving. Serve with salad greens, if desired.

Carrot salad for spring. Those are chive flowers in the photo.