Meatballs á la Lindström - beef and beetroot meatballs with rosemary are comfort food at its best (gluten-free)

* * * 

Meatballs á la Lindström are cooked in beetroot sauce. Juicy, vibrant and packed with herbs they're comfort food at best!

* * * 

So... winter has arrived at my side of the hemisphere. Not cool. Or well, too cook for me. I'm not cut out for cold and snow yet every single year I find myself equally amazed by this regularily occcurring phenomenon. This year, however,  I'm setting an alarm for next year. 

Brace yourself.
Winter is coming. 
Leave the country and never return. 

In the meanwhile I'll just try to make the most of it. I'll light the candles, hide under my duvet with Netflix (Gilmore girls - you can't hit that screen soon enough!) and keep myself warm with this comforting dish.

Which, in all honesty, is sort of exactly what I have been doing this past week already...

See you guys in 6 months!

Meatballs á la Lindström:

depending on the size 22-24 pcs

1 small onion,finely chopped

400 g ground meat

2 large beetroots (á 150 g), boiled and peeled

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary (or thyme)

2 tbsp finely chopped cornichons (or capers)
1 egg

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

Butter/ oil for frying

Sauce:

1 small onion

1 beetroot (á 150 g), boiled, peeled and pureed

2 tbsp tomato concentrate

1 tsp sugar

1/2 l stock (stock cube disslved in beets' cooking water)

2 sprigs of rosemary (or a couple of sprigs of thyme)

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

In case you're using raw beets,start by boiling them first for about an hour until done. Don't discard the water - dissolve the stock cube into it, adding water as needed. Let the beets cool down a bit and pull off the skin. Grate two of them and pure the third. The easiest option is, of course, to use pre-cooked ones if you can get your hands on them. 

Sauté onion in butter or oil in a pan or coated pot until soft and translucent. Let cook and combine with the rest of the meatball ingredients. Knead into a smooth dough and leave to set in the fridge, covered, for half an hour. In the meanwhile prep the sauce.

Sauté the remaining onion in butter or oil in a pan or coated pot until soft and translucent. Add pureed beey and tomato concentrate; herbs and sugar. Stir until smooth and add stock. Bring to boil and season. 

Roll the mixture into evenly sized meatballs and drop into the sauce to cook. Simmer, covered, for hald an hour. Serve.

And what better to serve this with than  the perfect potato mash that will make you cry which you'll find on the previous blog post.

For a wine pairing you'd do well with this New Zealand Pinot Noir I paired with my previous beef á la Lindström recipe!

And don't forget to share: what are your secret culinary weapons in warding off the cold? 

___________________

ANYONE FOR SECONDS?

         

SHARING IS CARING!

Best burgers right now: Beef Lindström beetroot burgers and Sileni Cellar Selection Pinot Noir 2014

* * * 

Herby Beef Lindström beef and beetroot patties topped with caramelized onion and mayo dressing make the best burgers right now. Especially with Sileni Cellar Selection's Pinot Noir 2014.

* * * 

A few years back I diagnozed myself with a severe case of pumpkin fever. This autumn I've fallen head over heels with beetroot. With its gloriously rich colour and taste which, once cooked (especially when roasted), takes on such gentle sweetness, it's stolen my heart (and a couple of previously white shirts, mind you...)

I would imagine we eat rather well in my kitchen. Good food made of good ingredients. But trust me, that does not mean I'm stranger to good old mince. Oh no - that's something I always have in my freezer. 

Be it organic or lamb or just a package of pork and beef I picked up on sale, it is the unsung hero of everyday cooking. It's versatility is also unparallelled: while the quintessential ingredient for homely meatballs, it can be pimped up for a Mexican fiesta (taco salad, anyone?) but just as easily it lends itself to Mediterranean mood (Greek meatballs - ooppa!) or Middle Eastern feasts (Moroccan köftes! Harira! )

And if you have a couple of hours to spare, it simmers down to a Bolognese, heaving with such deep flavours of love it easily becomes the star of any Sunday lunch.

Since meat has traditionally been the priciest of ingredients in cooking around the world, different cuisines have found ingenious hacks to make a little go further. Wrap in in pastry like tortellinis (or Shish Barak dumplings of my up and coming book!) and a quarter of a kilo is enough to feel a family of 8. 

Another way of strecthing the buck is adding mushrooms or veggies to it. My absolute favourite is this (despite of its Swedish-sounding name) recipe that apparently originated somewhere in Russia, where they add cooked and grated beets into the meat. 

I cannot tell you how in love with different variations of Beef Lindström I am. But I can tell you it's pretty much what I've been having every day for the past two weeks. 

My latest love are these burgers, where the herby beef and beetroot patties are topped with mayo dressing that gets its colour and incredible depth of flavour from caramelized onions. In addition to rosemary thyme and dill are some of the herbs that love the company of beets.

For home-made brioche burger buns see my recipe here. For marinated red onion, just see here. Oh, and polenta fries? Right over here!

Lindström's burgers:

6 -8 brioche buns (gluten-free if needed)

6-8 herby Beef Lindström patties (recipe below)

caramelized onion and mayo dressing (recipe below)

marinated red onion

kale, ripped off the hard stem

6-8 rashers of bacon (optional)

1 gherkin, sliced lengthwise or cornichons

Beef Lindström with rosemary:

depending on the size 6-8 patties

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 large beets, cooked, peeled and grated (á 150 g)

400 g mince (ground beef or lamb)

2,5 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary (or thyme) 

2,5 tbsp finely chopped gherkins/ cornichons (or capers)

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

for frying: butter and/or oil

Sauté the onion in oil or butter over medium heat until translucent. Let cool to room temperature and combine with rest of the ingredients. 

Work into a smooth mixture, cover and leave to rest in the fridge for half an hour. In the meanwhile caramelize the onions for the dressing (which can be made already the day before)

Form the beef mixture into 6-8 evenly sized thick patties. Fry in a pan for about 6 minutes per side. 

Caramelized onion and mayonnaise dressing:

2 small onions (or 1 large one), thinly sliced

1 tsp mustard

3 tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped

2 dl good mayonnaise

(salt, black pepper)

for frying: a couple of tbsp butter

Caramelize onions in a pan or coated pot, stirring every now and then, until they are golden brown and start to crisp. Let come to room temperature and measure into a food processor. Blizz until smooth, check the taste and season asif needed. 

Assemble the burgers. 

Roast the bacon in the oven at 200 on a parchment-lined tray until crips. Drain on kitchen towels and cut in half.

Soften the kale, covered, on a hot pan in a little bit of water for a couple of minutes. 

Half the brioche buns and toast them.

Spread a little dressing on the bun, followed by kale and marinated red onions. Top with the beef and beetroot patty, generous dollop of the dressing, bacon and cornichons. Place the top half of the bun on top of it all and feast.

And a burger this tasty deserved a beverage of same calibre. Once again I found the perfect match from New Zealand Pinot Noirs.

Sileni Cellar Selection Pinot Noir 2014 from Hawke's Bay region on the East Coast of New Zealand is a newcomer in my wine arsenal but a firm favourite already - showcasing so many of the qualities that make New World Pinot Noir (especially ones from NZ) such sweethearts of mine. 

It's medium-bodied, blessed with soft berriness such as cherry and raspberry. It's also got hints of violet which, together with the gentle oakiness, pair well with the sweetness of the beets and the robust choice of herbs.

___________________

ANYONE FOR SECONDS?

      

SHARING IS CARING!

Hummus with roasted beetroots and rosemary oil

The previous hummus recipe got its glorious colour and sweetness from roasted carrots, this time it's time to celebrate beetroot, that unsung hero of the veggie world.

Beetroot itself is rather a humble looking knobbly little thing that doesn't really look like much. But there is sooooo much more than meets the eye!

It contains betaine among other things (a powerful antioxidant which is also used to treat depression) and tryptophan, that happiness-inducing chemical also found in chocolate. Some cultures believed that if a man and woman eat from the same beetroot, they'll fall in love. The oracle of Delphi even went so far as to declare it the second most powerful aphrodisiac known to man. 

Another strange if amorous association is the expression "taking favours in the beetroot fields", which in the early 20th century English was used as an euphemism for visiting prostitutes. This might have something to do with the brothel at historic Pompei, the walls of which were actually adorned with paintings of beets... Oh well.

One thing beetroots absolutely love getting jiggy with is rosemary, so instead of normal oil I used a rosemary infused one. For recipe, just see here. 

Roasted beetroot hummus with rosemary oil:

400 g can chickpeas (drained weight 240 g)

1 tbsp tahini
1 largeish or 1,5 smaller beetroots (about 170 g)

3 tbsp rosemary oil

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper
2-3 tbsp water

Measure the ingredients into a food processor. Blizz until velvety smooth. Check the taste and add salt and/or lemon juice if needed. If it's too thick, add more water a tbsp at a time until you've reach the desired consistency.

___________________

ANYONE FOR SECONDS?

      

SHARING IS CARING!

Stroganoff with beetroot and soy chunks and dill oil

I can't remember when it all started as it just slowly snuck up on me. 

I went travelling and never once even thought about going to a bar. Instead I filled the evenings with opera and fine dining.

Then I found myself wanting to read all the literary classics. Never managed to get beyond Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but that's beside the point. 

I bought Talbot's dry clean-only wool trousers with tartan check as I though they'd look lovely with a  twinset. Ok, I did get them on eBay and without any intention to schlep all the way to dry-cleaners but still.

I also noticed how my visits to my hair dresser started to take longer and longer as we debated how blonde is too blonde (surely that's a trick question?) I want Real Housewives of Orange County blonde, she uses words like "subtle" and "appropriate". 

Then it hit me. After my latest birthday my age was officially closer to 40 than 30. I'm pre-middle aged (and apparently that means too old to be a chav). 

I've even discovered taste for sherry. And dishes I've not even thought about since school canteen fill me with nostalgia. Such as stroganoff. So, I surprised myself making it the other day. Though, because of this meat-free October regime, I made mine using beets and soy chunks. 

You know, I'm going to have to share this with you. Though a refined lady acting her age probably wouldn't (on the other hand - isn't vigilance about bowel movements all the rage? Or is that something for a couple of more decades down the line?)

While I do love beets as much as the next person, that trip to the loo the morning after never fails to shock me. Every single time I just find myself fretting over what it is that I have, well, broken. So, for those of you who keep saying life only starts after 40, this is not the kind of life I was looking forward to. 

But off we go and onto the recipe! Instead of dill you can throw in thyme (half a bunch) or rosemary (4-5 sprigs), too, as beet is BFFs with both of them. In case you're after a vegan (a.k.a. dairy-free) treat, substitute sour cream with soy cream or cashew cream (for how-to see here).

Serves 6-8

Beet root and soy chunk Stroganoff:

400 g beets, peeled and cut into roughly 1 cm cubes 

175 g uncooked soy chunks

1,5 l vegetable stock

3 rkl oil

2 red onions, cut into four and then roughly sliced

4 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 tbsp fennel seeds, toasted on a dry pan and crushed with pestle and mortar

1 dl red wine (can be omitted, then just add more vegetable stock and Balsamic vinegar)

1/4 dl Balsamic vinegar

140 g tomato concentrate

4 dl vegetable stock

2 bunches of dill

240 g sour cream

salt, black pepper

2 gherkins, cut into 1/2 cm cubes

Dill oil:

the stalks from dill

6 -8 tbsp oil

pinch of salt

To save time (and nerves) parboil the beets. Either steam them or cook in a little water for 20 minutes. Drain. 

Cook the soy cubes in vegetable stock for 10 minutes. Drain and reserve the stock for later.

Sauté onion and garlic in oil until onion is soft. Add crushed fennel seeds, red wine, Basamic and, after a couple of minutes, soy chunks. Let them soak the flavours for a couple of minutes and then add beets, tomato concentrate, vegetable stock and finely chopped dill tops (reserve the stalks). Season.

Simmer, covered for about an hour until the beets are done to your liking. Then add sour cream and gherkins. Bring to boil check the taste and season as needed.

Serve with boiled rice, mashed potatos or yellow lentil puré.

I went all frugal yet fancy and drizzled the Stroganoff with dill oil. It gives the dish lovely fresh finish and you something to do with something you'd normally just discard.

Place the stalks in a small blender, heat the oil in a pan, pour into the blender as needed and blizz into a smooth oil. Season with a pinch of salt.

___________________

ANYONE FOR SECONDS?

           

Chestnuts roasting in Hell - Brussel sprout, bacon and chestnut bake

Now, I love chestnuts. I love their nutty, potato-like taste and texture and I love how versatile they are. Crème de marron, chestnut paste, is my favourite filling for crêpes when in Brittany. But if possible I love them even more in savoury dishes: in France they were often serves as an accompaniment for game. Cooked with lardons, bien sûr!

So, sure, I'd love to be able to eat them more often. Nut that I can, though (see what I just did there? A little nutty joke!)

See, at least in South of Europe these babies are available cooked and peeled. And as you know, I'm not one to pine after vacuum-packed ready-made stuff when the fresh one's are in season and readily available in any old corner store. But these are an exception. These buggers are a pain to prepare.

The operation itself isn't much of an operation at all. You just cut a cross-shape incision into the chubby side of the chestnut, place them on  a tray the cut side up and roast at 200º for 15 or so minutes. Then, while they're still warm, you peel them: both the woody exterior shell and the brown skin on the inside. But at least with the specimen sold here there are simply no guarantees of what's lurking on the inside. 

I can tell you however, that after you've spent 3 days roasting 4 batches and peeling those little devils so that your fingers are bleeding (quite literally too) "helpful tips" such as "the skin comes easily off when using good quality chestnuts" don't feel terribly helpful at all.  

Every single time I've tried roasting my own, most of them have been either old and dry, rotten or just... inedible in 500 other ways. So, if possible, save your nerves and buy the vacuum-packed ones. Do not skip the recipe though as it is good.

Since bacon makes... well, everything better, I paired chestnuts with that. And as it is the Brussels sprout season, I threw some in too.  A little garlic to give it a bit of a kick and lemon zest to freshen it all up. And hey ho, ho ho ho!

As a side this this feeds 4

1 pkt (140 g) bacon or pancetta

1,5 tbsp butter

400 g Brussels sprouts

1 tsp garlic powder

250 g roasted, peeled chestnuts, halved

salt, pepper

to serve: 1/2 lemon zest, finely grated

Cut the bacon in cubes and fry, starting on cold pan and bringing the temperature up so they start rendering the fat and crispen up. Once they're done, remove with a slotted spoon. Depending on the bacon fat left in the pan, add butter and fry the halved, trimmed sprouts until a little caramelized. Then add garlic powder and chestnuts. 

Continue cooking for a couple of more minutes, season with salt and pepper and place in an oven-proof dish. Continue cooking at 200º for 15 minutes (tossing if needed halfway through), add the bacon and continue cooking for another 5 minutes until the sprouts are done. 

Check the taste, season if needed and sprinkle the lemon zest on top. Serve with a roast. And this roasted garlic and cashew sauce!

____________________

ANYONE FOR SECONDS?

      

Warm beet and potato salad with fennel seeds

Having grown accustomed to the pickled variety, beets and their versatility are something I've only learnt to appreciate in recent years. Together with potatos they create a lovely warm side dish salad that gets even more warmth from toasted fennel seeds. Though rosemary would work well too. As would allspice.

The Boy Next Door isn't enchanted with that noble root veg either (how can he not! Can you think of a funkier coloured veg?) but this he liked. Though his idea of the right proportions between all of the components are (obviously) wrong.  According to him the correct one is equal amount of potatos and beets whereas mine (inherently correct) view is that there needs to be twice the amount of beets to the potatos. 

As a side this feeds 4-5

Warm beet and potato salad:

500 g beets

250 g potatos

125 g apple

The dressing:

200 g créme fraîche

1,5 tsp fennel seeds, toasted and ground

salt, black pepper

Toast the fennel seeds on a fairly hot, dry pan and grind.

Peel potatos and beets and cut to similar size chunks. Boil potatos in salted water and steam dry. Peel and cut the apple, too.

Boil (or roast) the beets (do note though that they take at least twice the amount potatos do!) and drain. If boiling, reserve some of the liquid to add into the dressing if it needs to be runnier. It also adds a lovely colour! (You can also use it for beetroot risotto!) 

Combine the veggies. Mix the dressing and fold into the warm veggies (this way the soak up more flavour, too) and serve. Delicious especially with slow-cooked pork. Such as this orange and Christmas spice-filled pork neck!

____________________

ANYONE FOR SECONDS?

      

MILEY CYRUS! NAKED!

At Tzatziki Champion's birthday The Tunisian who works in IT (does anybody work anywhere else these days?) have me a lecture in IT. My brain, hardwired to only speak Food blogging, did their best to keep up. There was something about "reaching the local maxim", "finding a new angle" and search engine maximising". The communications technology savvy among us had no words to express their shock at finding out I don't even tweet. And am not (open hearting) in Instagram. And that I have only ever once used a hashtag. And even then by accident.

Based on what I took from this sermon I know now that in order to keep the blog growing, I should pay attention on the following: change one aspect of it in order to reach a new audience. The audience was kind of enough to suggest a LGBTG angle, which I found... well, odd. See, I have foolishly thought that the gay people eat what others eat, too...?

Another advice was on the keywords. In headings and such. Apparently there shouldn't be any correlation between them and the actual content. One of the most popular choices I was suggested went along the lines of "Naked Miley Cyrus" and "Justin Bieber's balls". As I (being the great humanitarian I am) pointed out (what I felt was a very valid observation) that a new reader, hungry for scandals, might feel a little bit cheated should they then be greeted with a recipe for, say, Greek meat balls. 

So, for those of you already following this blog, I have an inside tip: In case you anytime in the future run into titles like those, don't get your hopes up. I'd also welcome healthy dose of skepticism regarding revelations about "the shocking truth behind North Korea's space program". 

So, today doesn't have any libellious law suit-laden, gagging order-warranting surprises in store. Instead you'll be treated to beetroot risotto. But my God, how good a risotto! I served mine with fish, but you can serve it as a main on its own - it's that comforting and rich. A vegetarian might top it off with goat cheese crumbs. Or serve it with crisp fried halloumi that's been tossed in say, finely ground walnut crumbs.

Serves 4

500 g beets (about 4)
3 dl good risotto rice
1 dl white wine
1-1,2 l vegetarian stock
1 smallish red onion
butter
a handful of dill, chopped
a dash of good, syrupy balsamico
1 generous tbsp mascarpone (or Greek yogurt)

Peel the beets. Roughly cut them up and either roast them in the oven with a dash of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper or boil them until done. If you roast them, blizz about 1/3 into a puré and finely chop the rest. If you boil them, do absolutely reserve the gloriously coloured liquid and use it to dissolve the stock cubes adding more water as needed.

Finely chop the onion, sauté in some butter and then add rice, Let that too sweat a bit and get sort of translucent and then start adding the stock - a ladle full at a time. Keep the stock hot in another pan and don't add more until the previous batch has been absorbed. When the rice is almost cooked to creamy perfection (try not to stir too much at any point) stir in the beets, finely chopped dill and mascarpone. Leave the risotto runny, as it starts setting quickly anyway. Toss in some good quality balsamico.

In case you're a food blogger on the hunt for that perfect shot (or one of those people who do not believe they've actually had anything to eat until it's been documented on Instagram) you do want to get the settings (and the discarded coffee bags you've picked up at the local roastery just for the staging!) out of the way in advance as unlike say, love (!), risotto isn't one of those things that get better the longer you wait.

I served mine with fish. Mix about 1 dl of flour with the grated zest of 1 lemon and season well. Toss the fish (about 200 g/ person) in them and shake off excess. Fry quickly in a bit of butter until they're gloriously golden and crisp on the outside and creamy on the  inside and serve with risotto.

Enjoy. And don't forget to tweet about it! Caring is sharing!

#oneofthebestthingsinawhile

________________________


ANYONE FOR SECONDS?


        

A cheat's cake

Dear friends, wine, endless laughter and only subtle (but so heart-felt) jokes at the expense of  the in-house-food blogger. Those, and one furry little white dog, adored by absolutely everyone but who, were he a human child somewhere in America, would have been diagnosed with some fancy acronym and prescribed Ritalin and long-term counselling a long time ago. Those are some of the things fabulous nights are made of!

That's how we kicked off Tzatziki Champion's birthday celebrations last Friday. She, too, is in the middle of big life changes and facing new beginnings. Only she does it a more glamorous manner: she went and bough herself a flat at the most exclusive zip code in Helsinki. The flat, much like everything else in her life, is tiny and white.

An equally crucial addition to her life is her new personal trainer, who has managed to get some serious results. They haven't come without the pain and sacrifices though: cheese has been replaced with fat-free quark and wine... well, that she still drinks. But in secret.

And what is a birthday without a cake! Though this time it was savoury and suitable for also Vegetarian and Tunisian. In case you can't get your hands on crisp bread, you can use that German rye/ pumpernickel bread too.

Since I abhor gelatin, I set the cake by baking it in the oven. If gelatin is our thing though, feel free to use that instead. In addition to dill, fennel and orange beets also love the company of woodier herbs such as rosemary and thyme. Try ginger too!

My cake tin was the one I also used for cheese-free cheesecake and measures 22 cm in diameter.

In case you don't (for some reason) have beetroot puré idly lying around (you'll need about 8 dl), start by making that one.

Filling:

1,5 kg beetroots
3 dl Greek yogurt
3 eggs
2 tsp fennel seeds
finely grated zest of 1 orange
salt and pepper

Brush (and if you want) cook the beets until done. Let cool. The deep magenta-coloured liquid could also be used to give your risotto a fabulous (and bang on rend) colour!

Peel and blizz into a puré with reek yogurt. Season. Generously. Whisk the eggs and pour into them the beet pure. Whisk until smooth.


Crust:

175 g crisp bread
50 g butter

Blizz the bread into fine, fine crumbs and combine with melted butter. Press onto the bottom of a loose bottom cake tin and let set in the fridge for half and hour or so. Pour into it the filling and bake at 175 for 50-60 minutes.

Let cake cool in room temperature and then let it set in the fridge - at least 4 hours but preferably until the next day.

Soften 200 g goat cheese by adding some Greek yogurt into it. The soft variety works better for this purpose as the skin on the harder variety tends to make it very hard to get the texture silky smooth. Using a pastry bag pipe some rosettes onto the cake (or go crazy trying to create a evenly shaped and sized row of hearts!)

_____________________


ANYONE FOR SECONDS?