THE SEASONAL TABLE
Late October, almost November! As I savor the last tomatoes from my garden slowly turning from green to red on my kitchen counter, I reminisce about the variety of local summer bounty and am forced to consider our seasonal table with its varied flavors. For a household in Maine (or the Northeast USA in general) preferably “cooking from scratch” for a healthy diet and favoring local ingredients, this can be a seasonal challenge with the approach of winter.
And yet, such challenges tend to bring out the inventor and experimenter in a cook. When Alice Waters set out to use local produce in her creations, she had the fresh variety and plenty of California at her fingertips in the local markets at all times. Although I’m likely to think of her with envy in February in Maine, the seasonal demands can make us more creative about our daily menus, if for no other reason than boredom with routine. We are greatly aided by the abundance and availability of regional and international recipes as well as food that can be stored in a preserved or frozen state. And I will admit to not being a purist locovore to the extent of banning an occasional banana, as Barbara Kingsolver did in her admirable experiment described in “Animal Vegetable Miracle”. Rather, I like to think of seasonal foods providing us the basis for a variety of taste experiences and possibly even a variety in nutritional requirements/benefits throughout the year.
The taste experiences I like to write about generally originate from my own kitchen and hence require at most modest shopping expense and cooking expertise. These would be meals served to family and friends. Some recipes, I confess originate from an unexpected overabundance in my garden. Since growing a garden requires investment of personal time and labor, it would be unseemly to simply discard such bounty. Hence, the requirement for new and sometimes creative uses of it.
A recent case in point was brought up by my fall digging up of a row of beets. These were Chioga and yellow beets, two mild varieties that were destined to be served sliced and buttered as part of a main course for a local progressive dinner. However, the inner beet greens looked fresh and attractive on their own and certainly too good to discard in the compost pile. Thus evolved my Barley-Beet Green soup.
Barley – Beet Green Soup
Cook ½ cup thoroughly rinsed barley in 3 cups of water with ½ tsp. salt for 30 minutes on medium heat. Meanwhile, in a 3 quart pot sauté 1 chopped onion for 5 minutes, add 1 minced clove of garlic and sauté for an additional minute. Add 2 cups water, 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth and bring to boil. In the meantime wash beet greens, trim leaves and discard stems. Cut leaves coarsely (4-5 cups) and drop in boiling broth, bring to boil again, lower heat and continue boiling covered for 8 minutes. Drain the barley and add to cooking greens and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in 2 Tblsp. rice vinegar, adjust flavor with salt and pepper. Serve with a spoon of reduced fat sour cream or yoghurt for a satisfying, slightly tangy low calorie soup.
Buttered Chioga and Yellow Beets
Scrub the beets and trim stems but not the root, leaving ½ inch stems attached. Cover beets with cold water in a pot, bring to boil and cook for 30 minutes or less, depending on size. When cooled to touch, peel and slice in a bowl. Top with butter, sprinkle with a little salt, reheat and serve. These will taste milder than roasted red beets.
Beets are a seasonal fall vegetable and can be also served as part of salads and soups. Pickled beets will keep as a colorful addition to winter meals, and I will likely remember to make some Barley-Beet Green soup next spring, when the new crop of beets needs to be thinned in the garden.
((I. Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)
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