Rosemary Butter Beans with Maple Roast Roots
I don't know why but this winter I didn't really get into the mood for cabbage. Give me beans, lentils, all kinds of legumes and I'm happy. And whenever I pulled roasted roots out of my oven I was almost ecstatic, but cabbage, unfortunately, left me a bit uninspired. This is quite unusual for me, I would sometimes cook it every week in big batches in the cold season, cauliflower, kale, red cabbage heads and savoy, my freezer was always full with leftovers from my various cabbage creations.
I believe that you should follow your taste, your gut feeling in life. Whatever your appetite calls for stands for something that your body needs at that moment, not only when it comes to food. Lets leave out the excessive consuming of chocolate and cakes, this doesn't count in my train of thought, that's more for the soul rather than for the body, which is as important. My appetite definitely calls for legumes and roots! There weren't many cabbage recipes on eat in my kitchen this winter, just three, my Ginger Lemon Ricotta stuffed Cabbage Rolls, Savoy Cabbage with Coriander and Maltese Sausage and the Christmassy Roasted Red Cabbage with Orange Wedges. Roots, beans and lentils, that's what I put into my pots and pans most of the time.
Today's recipe combines both, velvety butter beans cooked with rosemary and caramelized mixed roots roasted in the oven in sticky maple syrup olive oil. The carrots, beetroot and Navet roots (yellow turnip) were still a bit crunchy and just as good when they were cold. This was our energising snack together with yesterday's olive oil bundt cake while we remodeled the kitchen. This dish works as a warming meal or a rich salad, just prepare a bigger batch and enjoy it for days!
White Rosemary Beans and Maple Roast Roots
For 3-4 people you need
dried butter beans, soaked in lots of water overnight, 250g / 9 ounces
broth to cook the beans (or 1 carrot, 1/4 celery root and 1/4 leek)
fresh rosemary, a small bunch
Navet roots (yellow turnip), cut into wedges, 3 (or 1 small rutabaga, peeled)
medium beetroots, peeled and cut into wedges, 2
carrots, peeled, cut in half (lengthwise), 10
cloves of garlic, in their skin, 6
olive oil 6 tablespoons
maple syrup 1 tablespoon
balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon
coarse sea salt and pepper
In a large pot, cook the beans in enough broth - or in water with the carrot (cut in half), celery (peeled) and leek (cut in half) - for about an hour, don't add any salt. Add a sprig of rosemary in the last 15 minutes. When the beans are done take them out with a slotted ladle and mix them with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Season to taste.
Set the oven to 200°C / 390°F (I used the Rotitherm setting).
Whisk 5 tablespoons of olive oil with the maple syrup and pepper. Spread the roots in a large baking dish or on a tray and coat them with the maple oil, add a few sprigs of rosemary. Sprinkle the roots generously with coarse sea salt and roast in the oven for about 45 minutes or until golden brown and al dente, turn them every 15 minutes. Serve on top of the beans.
Fluffy Blueberry Pancakes with Maple Syrup and Cinnamon
A couple weeks ago I wrote about French toast, my ultimate cosy weekend breakfast! I mentioned that there is one sweet treat I enjoy as much, fluffy morning pancakes! Even better, blueberry pancakes with maple syrup! The sweet berries taste divine with or without any kind of syrup but if I can choose maple is my favourite in this combination. Sometimes I replace the berries with thick slices of apple and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. That's how my mother used to make them for me, or I add some chocolate spread or my blood orange marmalade, but when I saw the thick and juicy blueberries from Chile at the market my breakfast choice for this weekend was made!
When I make pancakes, I make lots of them because I can eat lots of them. I enjoy them straight out of the pan, warm and fluffy as well as in the afternoon with a cup of tea when they are already soft and cold. For my dough, I start off with 4 organic eggs, separated, the egg whites beaten till stiff with a pinch of salt. I combine 180g / 6.5 ounces of flour (I use spelt flour type 630 but you can use any other plain flour) with 2 scant teaspoons of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of sugar. I add 200 ml of milk, the egg yolks and mix everything well before I gently fold in the egg whites.
I fry the pancakes in batches, 3 at a time always adding a teaspoon of butter before I pour a ladle of my thick dough into the pan. I sprinkle the soft dough with the blueberries, pushing them in a bit so that they won't burn when I turn the pancakes. When they are golden brown on each side, I pile them up on a plate, pour the maple syrup on top and sprinkle with cinnamon. Sometimes I even let some butter melt on their golden tops, it's the weekend after all!
A Salad of Caramelised Parsnip with Maple Syrup, Goat Cheese and Thyme
At the moment I could eat roots and turnips all the time luckily, as tasty spring vegetables are still a few months away. It's always the same, around March I start to miss ripe tomatoes, juicy cucumber, crunchy lettuce, zucchini, the ripe tastes of summer. Greenhouse vegetables reach their watery peak at this time of the year so they are not really an alternative. The cherry tomatoes I bought the other day had thick skin and when I ate them I had to image tomatoes rather than tasting them. I don't really feel like cabbage anymore, so I stick to everything that grows in the ground.
I enjoyed my Monday's Ginger Honey Navet Steaks so much, their sweet, syrupy juices were delicious, that I thought about other combinations of roots and syrup. My choice was caramelized parsnip roasted with maple syrup and thyme leaves, combined with fresh goat cheese in a warm salad. The juices make a great thick syrup, glazed around the roots they are a perfect match for the milky cheese crumbs and strong wintery herb. You could make it as a side dish, still hot, we ate it as a warm salad, I didn't want the cheese to melt.
I cut three parsnips into long strips and glazed them with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup mixed with salt and pepper. A dash of white wine and the leaves of 4 sprigs of time on top, everything well spread in a roasting tin, I baked it for 15 minutes in the hot oven set to 200°C / 390°F, Rotitherm roasting setting. When the parsnip was done, golden on the outside and soft inside, I let them cool for a couple minutes before I crumbled 80g / 3 ounces of fresh, soft goat cheese over the roots. The two us cleaned the tin with our fingers, not to waste a drop of the sweet syrup.
French Toast with Maple Syrup for a cosy breakfast in bed
French toast is the perfect breakfast for a cosy day in bed, with books and magazines, daydreaming and chatting, with nothing important on my mind and no decisions to be made. While pancakes are an equally satisfying morning treat, they take a bit more time so I gladly make my french toast on a day like this. It requires just a few minutes out of bed for preparation before I can snuggle back into the cushions with a plate full of sweet cinnamon toast covered in maple syrup.
I like my french toast soft and juicy on the inside, soaked in lots of cinnamony milk with eggs, and with a buttery crust on the outside. For 4 slices of white bread I mix 2 large eggs with 1/3 to 1/2 cup of milk (depending on the size of the eggs), the mixture should be quite liquid. I whisk in a pinch of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, then I let the bread soak in this mixture, turning it once or twice, repeating with the other slices until most of the liquid is absorbed. Now they just need to fry in 3 tablespoons of butter in a large pan on medium heat until golden brown before you can sprinkle them with more cinnamon and pour over some maple syrup.
