Beet

Inspired by main-course salads found in the bistros of France, this dish comprises some of my favorite ingredients—beets, mustard, dandelion, and soft boiled egg. The salmon is covered in minced herbs, seasoned with fleur de sel, and then slow-roasted in a humid oven until it’s moist and custardlike at the center.

Dungeness crabs are caught off the Pacific coast, from the tip of Alaska to as far south as Baja California, during the cold-water months of November to early June. If you’re not on the West Coast or can’t find Dungeness crabs, look for stone, peekytoe, or blue crabs. And if you’re short on time, purchase the crabs already cooked, cracked, and cleaned from a good fishmonger. If you’re feeling less extravagant or can’t get to the fish market, a crabless version of this dish makes a pretty good salad, too.

I crave Greek salad year round, so in the winter, when tomatoes don’t taste great raw, I make it with roasted beets instead. This began as a home lunch, but I decided to try it out at some of my restaurants, too, and it’s turned out to be one of our most popular salads.

At my restaurant, we make our own yogurt, carefully culturing milk at 93°F for hours. At home, I pop open a container of good whole-milk yogurt from the store. Just be sure to stir that creamy top layer into the rest of the yogurt before using it. The richness and tanginess pair perfectly with sweet beets. While I prefer boiled beets in this dish, roasted beets work well, too.

Here’s another good way to utilize root vegetables raw; the dressing adds a rich, delicious flavor.

Thin slices of roasted red, golden, and striped beets overlap atop a combination of ricotta and goat cheeses to produce a stunning shingled tart. The beets are sprinkled with grated fontina before baking. Use beets in a variety of colors if you can find them.

Beets are so sweet and delicious that at the restaurant we try to feature them as often as possible. We also try to make things a little bit more interesting by adding pecorino to the beets instead of traditional goat cheese. FYI, the longer the beets are marinated, the better they tend to taste, so plan to prepare this dish in advance.

The Yiddish word gefilte means “filled” or “stuffed,” and originally gefilte fish was fish skins stuffed with a white fish mousse, similar to a French quenelle. Eventually the fish skins were eliminated and just the stuffing was kept, more user-friendly for the home cook, and the skins, if there were any, became part of the broth. Once freed from being stuffed into something, the filling was shaped into oval dumplings and poached without benefit of wrapping. What is important for authenticity, and for the best flavor, is to brew your own fish broth with white fish bones (not salmon or shrimp), which is ready in only 30 minutes. Why take the trouble at all? Well, some dishes are revered for their status as iconic ritual that affirms and carries forth the culture, and making them from scratch both reinforces that role and binds the community of which they are part. Out-of-the-jar gefilte fish just isn’t the same. It is a must-have dish on the Seder table, and beyond that, it is delicious for any occasion that calls for a light first course. Gefilte fish is traditionally made with freshwater fish, but if none is available, any saltwater fish with firm, white flesh will do. Horseradish root is part of the Seder plate of symbolic foods that signify various stages of the Jews’ flight from Egypt. Finely grated, and sometimes colored a fiery red with the addition of shredded beets, the horseradish condiment is both the customary and perfect accompaniment to gefilte fish.

Partially cooking the potato and chilling it before grating serves two purposes: the potato gets thoroughly cooked within the sausage mix, which it won’t if it is added raw, and the sausage doesn’t turn out soft and mushy, which it will if the potato is cooked and mashed first. I prefer to get a jump start on this dish by preparing the potato a day ahead and chilling it overnight. But if you’re in a rush, several hours will do the trick, in which case, use the freezer to hasten the chilling. Rather than the standard Swedish accompaniment of mashed potatoes, I serve the sausage with a side of colorful, almost candylike roasted beets topped with sour cream.

Sauce Vin Rouge is our mother-ship sauce, good on all matters of protein. When seasoning this sauce, or any sauce, keep in mind that it won’t be consumed like a soup, so go ahead and be relatively liberal with the salt.

Fred once threatened to reveal Monsier Jean Charest’s dislike of beets to the world, along the lines of President George Bush’s broccoligate. “He stared at me while his goons were considering my removal—not funny, not funny at all.” This way of making beets is delicious. Fred prefers red beets; he finds the yellow ones taste like house-brand diet soda.

A&M: Teresa wrote: "Seems to me beets and oranges are a classic winter salad combination that you see everywhere." But this is no run-of-the-mill beet and orange salad. Teresa explained, "My friend Sophie's dad, Jim Broderick, gave me the idea that really makes this salad great: fennel and orange rind in the dressing." She's right: this trick gives her winter salad lift and fragrance and makes you want to keep eating it.

A&M: When Amy N-B told her husband that she came up with this dish as an homage to a simple French peasant dinner, he teased her: "What peasants eat Bucheron cheese and drink Muscadet with their beets?" "Um, French ones?" Well, in our next life, we'd like to be French peasants, or at least eat like them. We have a soft spot for beet recipes that utilize both the sweet root and minerally tops. Here, Amy N-B has you caramelize slices of yellow and red beets (we used four large beets total; might do three next time) and then add a mix of beet tops and Swiss chard, cooking them just enough to wilt. You'll love the dish at this point, but you'll be riveted if you serve it with a soft Bucheron and good country bread.

This hearty salad is a near-constant in our deli case and a favorite among guests and staff . Although the beets are the star of the show, the pickled onions play an important supporting role, adding textural interest and a vinegary punch. At the store, we cook the beets by baking them whole, in a deep roasting pan with 1 inch of water. For a small, at-home quantity I suggest steaming. It’s faster because steam gets hotter than boiling water (which maxes out at 212°F) and uses less energy than turning on the oven. However, if you prefer to roast or boil your beets, feel free—the results will be just as tasty.

Like most of the chefs we take to visit Forni-Brown Gardens (see page 164) in Calistoga, Rocco di Spirito was overwhelmed by the bounty. This farm grows impeccable lettuces, tomatoes, herbs, and other produce for some of the most discriminating restaurants in Napa Valley. For his astonishing first course at the 2000 Workshop, Rocco used Forni-Brown beets, baby carrots, tiny tomatoes, and three kinds of basil. This aromatic stovetop braise is an adaptation of the more elaborate dish he made.

Brian does most of the cooking at home for his wife, Kristina, and their two small children, but this salad is one of Kristina’s specialties. She adapts it to the season, but quinoa is always the starting point. Nutty and quick cooking, quinoa is high in protein and will hold up for about an hour after it’s dressed. Serve this refreshing winter salad with pork, chicken, or fish, or with feta for a meatless meal.

The beets and cucumbers in Dolores’s summer garden and the tangy goat’s-milk yogurt from Skyhill Farms, a Napa Valley producer, inspired chef William Withrow at the 2005 Workshop. He folded diced roasted beets into yogurt, then spooned the mixture into edible “cups” made from cucumber chunks. When all of the ingredients are well chilled, this healthful appetizer is incomparably refreshing—just what you want on a warm summer night.

Dried beans are an inexpensive alternative to canned—once cooked, they also have a better texture and far less sodium. Here the beans are simmered with beets, which infuses them with color and flavor.

The beet can be roasted up to a day in advance of serving the salad. Although the red beet contrasts nicely with the orange wedges, a golden or chioggia beet can be used instead.