Beet, Wild Mushroom and Potato Casserole
The picture is from the cookbook: Vegetarian Cooking. The dish can be easily veganized by using margarine instead of butter and soy milk instead of cream.
I was catching up on all my blog reading this morning and noticed that very few of the meals featured in the One Local Summer challenge were vegan meals. There was one stir fry with seitan and I think one featuring lentil burgers. But the main focus of many of the meals was on meat. So I thought of cooking some something that is either vegan or could be easily veganized with the summer bounty. The result was the Beet, Wild Mushroom and Potato Casserole.
I don’t know how other people shop at the farmer’s market, but I’m like a shopaholic at the mall. Any new vegetable (either new in season or new to me) gets me very excited. I don’t think for one second about what I could do with the vegetable, instead, I immediately buy it. This year I’m a little bit better in that I remember the name of the item I am purchasing. Last year I would spend hours online trying to figure out what the heck I had wound up purchasing since I was too shy to just ask the farmer what I was getting.
So today’s mystery ingredient were beets. I grew up eating beets and the only reason I ate it is because I loved the color of beets. I don’t care for the taste too much. But since I bought it I wasn’t sure what to do with it. I thought of tossing it in a blender with tomatoes and cilantro and making some sort of health drink but decided against it. I didn’t want it in a salad. So I was happy when I found this dish in Vegetarian Cooking by Linda Fraser. The result was a bit blah. The taste isn’t bad, but it doesn’t feel filling since I thought that’s what casseroles were supposed to do. Still..if anyone really wants the recipe, leave a comment, and I’ll post it since I was not able to find it online.
Yum! That looks good, although maybe I’m just a sucker for anything with mushrooms . . . I’m the same way at the farmer’s market, anything weird and new has to come home with me.
Comment by Cyn — June 23, 2008 @ 3:50 am
Yum for mushrooms! Not sure if you’re interested…but I’ll post the recipe anyway.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion chopped
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1.25 cup veg stock (I used water)
1.5 lbs cooked beets. Peeled and chopped
5 tbsp light cream (I omitted)
2 tbsp creamed horseradish (omitted. Not sure what that is)
1 tsp hot mustard (also ommitted)
1 tbsp wine vinegar
1 tsp caraway seeds (ommitted)
2 tbsp butter
1 shallot, chopped (ommitted - just used onions)
8 oz wild mushrooms (I used white button mushroom)
3 tbsp fresh parsley
2 lb floury potatoes, peeled (I used red potatoes)
2/3 cup milk
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill - optional
salt and pepper
——–
Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly oil a 9 inch round baking dish. Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook until soft, without coloring. Stir in the flour, remove from heat and gradually add the stock, stirring until well blended.
Return to the heat, stir and simmer to thicken, then add the beets, cream, creamed horseradish, mustard, vinegar and caraway seeds.
To make the potato border, bring the potatoes to a boil in salted water and cook for 20 min. Drain well and mash with the milk. Add the dill, if using, and season with salt and pepper
Spoon the potatoes into the prepare dish and make a well in the center. Spoon the beet mixture into the well and set aside.
Melt the butter in a large nonstick frying pan and cook the shallot until soft, without browning. Add the mushrooms and cook over moderate heat until their juices begin to run. Increase the heat and boil off the moisture. When quite dry, season with salt and pepper and stir in most of the chopped parsley.
Spread the mushrooms over the beet mixture, cover and bake for about 30 minutes. Serve at once, garnished with the reserved parsley.
Comment by Beany — June 23, 2008 @ 3:56 pm
I am also a total shopaholic at the farmer’s market. I usually end up with a month’s worth of food. I just can’t help myself!!
Comment by melissa — June 25, 2008 @ 1:59 pm