snout to tail, sort of

There are people out there who dine far more than I do and who keep up on the food lit far better than I do; I, however, am not exactly a slouch. So it is that I've happened upon the "snout to tail" concept of cooking a number of times in the past year. Pigs are the object - snout should give it away - though I imagine that chefs have tried it with other critters, too (horse, anyone?).

Tonight was my basic, simple, easy version using a very different "creature": the humble beet.

Fine, I'm stretching it to call it snout to tail. It's just that I think, I suspect, too many people buy beets (and that number, judging by the scrunched up faces on some of my friends, is not a large number of folk) and use only the root. A pity. Me? I love greens, and beet greens are high on my list. Years back I visited my Mum's family outside of Boston (the original, that is), and I asked if they cooked with the greens from all the sugar beets harvested. The look they gave me told me that they really did think I was a sad, backwater cousin.

Anyway, back to cooking. I decided that I would toss a few cut-up golden beets with some cauliflower and chicken sausage. Flavouring it all would be leek and shallot, plus olive oil, coarse salt, pepper, and whole cumin seed. Wrap it all in parchment (and foil, which helps secure it, I find) and pop into a hot oven until I could smell good things. I trusted the beets would be tender by then, and - happily for me - they were. Just before I opened the package I steamed up the greens, then plated it all simply. A glass of a German Riesling, and I was set for dinner. Dinner alone. Only 4 more hours until Conrad comes home, though, and at least he'll come home to a well-fed husband!