Vegan January has come and gone and though I have one more vegan post to make, I thought this beet gnocchi was a bit more fitting for the Valentine’s Day holiday (although a couple of days late!) I’m still perfecting my gnocchi-making technique, but I love the gorgeous color and hint of earthiness the beets bring to this recipe. You’ll likely have a bit of leftover beet puree with this, so I encourage you to make a Chocolate Beet Cake with the remainder.

Ingredients

(adapted from Food & Wine)
2 pounds medium-sized Beets, scrubbed, tops and bottoms cut off
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Fresh Pepper
1 cup Ricotta
1 large Egg, beaten lightly
pinch of Nutmeg
3/4 cup Romano Cheese, shredded
3 cups Flour, plus extra
1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped and toasted
1 1/2 cups Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup fresh Sage, chopped
2 cloves Garlic, minced
Fresh Lemon juice
Fresh Sage leaves (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a baking pan drizzle beets with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Add 1/4 cup of water to the pan and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Roast in the oven for about 1 hour or until beets are soft. Remove and allow to cool. Once you’re able to handle them, use your hands to peel away the skins. Use a vegetable peeler if needed. Cut beets into cubes and puree in a food processor. In a standing mixer (which I don’t own – I used my Cuisinart with a plastic paddle and pulsed to control the speed), combine 1 1/2 cups of the beet puree with ricotta, romano, egg, nutmeg and 1 Tablespoon of salt on low/medium speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl and slowly sprinkle in the flour with the mixer on low/medium speed until it just comes together. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until smooth and a little sticky. Don’t over-knead – you want the dough to feel light. Cover the dough and let it sit at room temp for about a half hour.

While the dough is sitting, melt the butter over low/medium heat. Bring melted butter to a golden brown color and remove from heat. Strain through cheese cloth to remove the solids. Set aside. In a saute pan, fry the whole sage leaves in a bit of olive oil until they crisp up. Remove and allow to cool on a paper towel. Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot. Prepare an ice bath and keep nearby. Divide the dough into 8-10 pieces and roll each one into 1/2 inch thick ropes. Cut each rope into 1/2 inch pieces. Boil in batches, letting the gnocchi simmer about 1 minute past when they float. Remove with a slotted spoon and put into ice bath to chill while you cook the remaining.

Once you’ve finished with the gnocchi, saute the garlic in a bit of olive oil over low heat until fragrant. Add the brown butter and chopped fresh sage and stir for a minute or so. Stir in fresh lemon juice. Add gnocchi and combine until the gnocchi turns a rich red. Season well with salt and pepper. Toss in walnuts. Serve hot garnished with crispy sage leaves.

Fresh Beet, Kale & Lime JuiceMy credit card points were never going to amount to a free flight to anywhere, so I used them towards a juicer instead. I’m usually in too much of a hurry to make breakfast in the morning, so hopefully 2 minutes with the juicer will help me avoid eating too many breakfast sandwiches from Court Street Grocers. 
This made enough for about 6oz of juice. It’s sweet & tangy with a little earthy undertone. 1 medium-sized Beet3 cups fresh Kale1 limePulverize in a juicer. Stir a little. Drink.

I opened a can of pickled beets during a snack attack two days ago and after realizing high fructose corn syrup was an ingredient, quickly resolved to pickle my own. I have little experience with pickling vegetables, so I used this recipe as inspiration and went from there. 

Pickled Beets 3 beets, with greens removed2/3 cup cider vinegar 1 1/2 tbls olive oil1 1/2 tbls sugar 1 tbls dijon mustard1 clove garlic, cut into fourthssalt & pepper to tasteBring a pot of water to boil (you could also roast the beets in the oven at 350, but this takes a bit longer) add beets and boil for about 30 minutes or until you can easily pierce them all the way through with a knife (I undercooked mine, oops). In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together vinegar, olive oil, mustard, sugar and salt and pepper. Add garlic and allow to sit while beets cook. Remove beets from heat an drain, running cold water over them to cool them to the touch. You should be able to easily removed the skins with your hands at this point. Cut the beets into even wedges and toss wit h the vinegar mixture. Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes, but even better, overnight.
If you’ve never worked with beets before, be forewarned – they are as messy as they are delicious. They can and will stain everything, including your hands, so be careful. That being said, beets are one of my favorite vegetables. There’s something about their sweet earthiness that I can’t get enough of. In fact, I’ve used them to infuse vodka!  I have the greens leftover, so I’m considering using the deep red beet vinaigrette left over from the pickling as a dressing.
And I end with a nicely spray painted bakery truck.