Farro with Beets and Blueberries

I made a farro salad this weekend. I made it two ways, a composed warm salad and jumbled cold salad. They both worked fine. In fact, it is rather nice to try it both ways. The composed salad is small and makes for a great appetizer and when you are finished you can just dump the leftovers into a bowl and set it in the fridge for the next day.

Everyone seems to have his or her own special way to make farro. Some people cook it like beans, rinsing and soaking. Some people cook it the way the French often like to cook rice with the grain in a big vat of water, cooking and then draining.

I tend to make it like rice with a ratio of 1 part farro to 2 1/2 parts water.

I used baby beets from my garden, peeling them and sautéing them, which left them with a nice, slightly firm texture. If you use large beets, you might want to roast the beets.



Farro with Beets and Blueberries

1-cup farro
2 1/2 cups water
5 or 6 small young beets with beet green tops
1-tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4-cup blueberries
Oil to sauté beets and greens
Salt & pepper to taste
Goat cheese

1. Add the farro and water to a small saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook 20 minutes.

2. Cut off beet greens, remove stems, roughly chop or tear and reserve.

3. Peel and cut the beets into 1/4-inch dice. (The beets will stain your hands, so you might want to wear gloves.)

4. Cut about 1/4 cup of the beet stems add to the cubed beets and sauté in a medium skillet with a little oil, until just tender, about 10 minutes.

5. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook another minute.

6. Add blueberries and cook another minute.

7. Remove the beets and blueberry mixture and set aside.

8. In the same skillet, sauté the beet greens until wilted, about 5 minutes.

9. Toss the farro and beet mixture together, and season to taste.

10. Pack into a ring mold about 3/4 full; then add the sautéed beet greens and top with a piece of goat cheese.

11. Unmold and serve.

I like to eat this composed salad warm.




Then I take the leftover farro, beets and greens and toss them together and refrigerate. When I am ready to serve, I give it a toss and add in the goat cheese.

Warm or cold, prissy or tossed, this offers several options with a single recipe.

Beet Pie with Horseradish Whipped Cream

What we lacked in squash this year, we made up for in beets! I thought if one can make pumpkin pie, why not beet pie. The color is quite beautiful, though I found it didn't permeate the entire filling. The sweet yet biting whipped cream offered a nice compliment.

You can use fresh beets or you can use canned beets. For fresh beets, i recommend peeling them before cooking and cutting them into small cubes. Then roast them in oven, or you can just boil them. For canned beets, you will need two cans. I heat them in their juice on the stove top. Beets are a bit "hard" and they need to be rather smooth for this recipe. The beets are easiest to "mash" in a food processor.

Do not over bake the pie. We have all seen pies served where the filling is pulled away from the crust, or the filling is cracked. That occurs when you over bake. You want the center to be firm, but just. the pie will continue to bake once it is out of the oven, so the second you see the center firm up, pull the pie out of the oven.

The Horseradish Whipped Cream is a matter of taste. I like spicy food, so I use 1 tablespoon of prepared horseradish. That might overwhelm some, so I recommend adding it a teaspoon at a time.

Beet Pie

1 pie crust
2 cup mashed beets
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon quatre-epice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk

Combine the the dry ingredients to incorporate the spices evenly.

In a bowl, beat the eggs.

Stir in the mashed beets and the dry ingredients

Add the evaporated milk a bit at a time to fully incorporate

Place your pie shell on a heavy baking sheet

Pour the mixture into your pie shell

Add to a hot pre-heated oven -- 450 -- and bake for 15 minutes

Reduce heat to 350 and bake for about 40 minute


Horseradish Whipped Cream

1 pint whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish; added a teaspoon at a time to insure you don't over power the cream

Beets With Candied Ginger In Yuzu Honey

This is a quick and easy side dish for Thanksgiving. After a bit of prep work, the dish tuck into an unused corner of the oven and is ready to go in no time. You want to start with small beets -- think golf balls not softballs. The dish is more fun if you can find two varieties of beets. I use a yellow and a red. With two varieties, however, you must cook them in separate parcels as the darker beets will color the lighter ones. With small beets, you will need to cut the green tops as close to the beet as possible. With a small paring knife, simply scrap the skin off the beets. BE WARNED, beets will stain your hands, so wear gloves.



This recipe calls for yuzu honey, sometimes called citron preserves. If you can't find yuzu honey, substitute a mix of half orange marmalade and half honey.

Beets With Candied Ginger In Yuzu Honey

1 pound scraped fresh, small beets
1/4 cup candied ginger
1/2 cup yuzu honey
1 lemon pinch of salt

Place the ingredients on a sheet of parchment paper.


Wrap the ingredients in the parchment paper and then wrap the parchment paper in aluminum foil.


Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

With these on the table you can skip desert!