Savour Simcoe

Last weekend I got to attend Savour Simcoe, a great food event put on by Simcoe County Farm Fresh and featuring the producers and purveyors here in Simcoe County. 

 

We tend to get a little overlooked up here in cottage country, overshadowed by our close proximity to the big city delights to be found in Toronto. But we've got some pretty damn happenin' food related goodness going on around here too. Plus, guess where much of that yumminess folks are enjoying in the big city is coming from? There's certainly no farm land left in the urban sprawl on the shores of Lake Ontario!

Farm Fresh asked me to take some pictures of the food featured at the event. I pretty much jumped at the chance. 

The day was beautiful, with booths scattered throughout the historical outdoor exhibits at Simcoe County Museum. Restaurants and purveyors were partnered with local producers whose product they used to create yummy, yummy dishes for us food sluts. It was a perfect way to showcase our area. 

The North Restaurant produced a tasty and incredibly beautiful lamb dish with help from their partner Sunnidale Farms

These guys were kept incredibly busy all day serving the starving masses.

I kept coming back to the booth belonging to Cravings Fine Food & Catering 

 and their partners Algonquin Angus Beef

 and Valley Farm Market

Their display was very vibrant and inviting and I was having a blast snapping pictures.

Cravings pulled out two separate dishes for the event. The first was a sort of deconstructed perogie of spelt with a cauliflower puree in the place of potato, smoked brisket and smoked bacon and carmelized onion.

It was really tasty. The spelt had a wonderful texture and like any successful "deconstruction" attempt, the individual elements all combined in your mouth to give you a great taste memory of the original dish (check me out using big foodie terms! I'm feeling fancy.)

 Their second dish was a meatloaf served with a corn, bean and carrot succotash, creamed potatoes and a roasted tomato ketchup. I'm drooling just writing out the description.

Nice, no?

They had a challenge keeping up with demand.

Just for a little variety, here's a shot of some of the lovely local beverage on offer

It was a hot day. I couldn't drink wine. I was not pleased. I sucked on my water bottle and sulked.

Pinehouse Farms was partnered with Portage Bistro. Together they offered a beautiful little bundle of fresh greens topped with a fresh dressing as well as a dumpling and a cold soup.

Era 67 Restaurant and Lounge paired with Ego's Farm Market on a stew with a choice of fresh toppings.

Please enjoy as I continue to inundate you with still more images of goodness from Savour Simcoe.

informative information (or self indulgent babbling)

I know I've been neglecting the blog a little lately...and I feel terrible about it. 

I feel I owe an explanation.

Be prepared, my explanation is ridiculous and shows what a preposterous excuse for a now 32 year old adult I am.

Also, it reveals my fragile hold on sanity.

But, as you know, I'm nothing if not honest with you all so I'd like to let you in on what's been hampering my creativity and deeply affecting my already clearly defective brains.

Ever since my nervous breakdown (I cringe every time I say that but it is the simplest way to explain what happened to me) I have tried my hardest to maintain a very simplified, routine, non-stressful existence. And I've done pretty well at it. I weeded out a lot of stressful elements from my life, left my stressful job, moved away from what I felt to be a stressful town and generally enveloped myself in a stress free cocoon.

Unfortunately, this has backfired just a little bit. 

I'm now at a point in life where I want to get out there again. Correction: where I need to get out there again. 

Or maybe both are correct. 

I want to get out there because I've been feeling stagnated and I have a lot of ideas hopping around in my over-active imagination that are just begging to come to fruition. Also, I'm feeling healthy enough to want and I want to take advantage of that.

I need to get out there because, well, if I don't I'm wasting my life and I refuse to waste any more time (Mother and best friend passing away will make a person reflect heavily on their own mortality and the quickly passing sands of time.)

So, here's where things get tricky. 

My neurotic, obsessive need to keep things simple and calm means that any new activity I add to my life causes me great anxiety and stress.

And, while absent from the safety of the blogosphere I've been busy adding activity to my three dimensional life. 

Translation: sleepless nights, panic attacks and total inability to focus on blogging or even (gasp!) cooking! It's true, poor SeaBass has suffered many a "make it yourself!" supper.

I think things are starting to calm down now though. 

The biggest "new thing" is something I'm very excited to share with all you folks but I really wanted to wait until I was over making myself almost puke thinking about it (you're welcome for the image) before writing about it.

My friend (owner of Karma Marketplace, local business woman of the year and all around amazing person) and I have begun a healthy lunch program at a local elementary school. We're doing local, organic and totally made from scratch foods and I am at the helm of the cooking end of the business. 

I have never cooked for more than six or seven people at a time before. 

I have never cooked for folks who don't know me and therefore don't feel obliged to be at least polite, if not complimentary, before.

I have never tried to feed healthy, organic food to an audience used to fillers, by-products and additives before.

By the way, did you know that children are picky?

Yesterday was our second lunch. It was a success and now I can relax....until next Tuesday when we do it again.

I'm looking forward to sharing the experience with you. The food, the successes, the failures, the ensuing panic attacks.

Anyways, that's what's been happening with me.

Thank you for listening. 

Always.

oh glorious food foraging find...and a little something for those of you who like it dirty

I know I have been a neglectful blogger these last several days. And I apologize.

I have in fact eaten more than one meal and have neglected to take photos or post. Again I apologize.

However, in my defense, I will say that I did intend to post photos and dutifully recount the experience. Unfortunately all the food went mysteriously missing before I could complete my mission.

Ironically, I think I may have put on a few pounds since last I spoke to you. Weird.

I would like to tell you (minus photographic evidence) about the pho I made this weekend. We are lacking pho in these parts and I had a craving. So, totally unwilling to say "no" to my belly I embarked on my first ever adventure in pho.

After some in depth interweb-y research (read: drooling as I sifted through multiple recipes and made a random determination based on gut instinct. No really, I use the stomach growling effects as an effective measure of the impressiveness of a recipe.) I used Jaden from Steamy Kitchen's recipe.

It was well touted as the best home made pho recipe to be found. Seeing as how I haven't tried any other recipes I can't say whether it's the best, but I can say it more than satisfied my craving. It surpassed many a restaurant pho. It was beefy but light and clean. I left in the silky marrow from my soup bones and slurped every last bit of it with mouthfuls of just cooked, thin sliced steak and the typical accoutrements.

I will be making it again very, very soon.

Next time I promise not to gobble before snapping pics.

What does any of this have to do with the title of this post?

Nothing. I just wanted to share. And apologize.

Now on to more post related babbly bits.

Since the snow has melted 'round here I've been on the lookout.

I've been looking for wild leeks.

I was told that the forest near my house was of a magical sort, full of foraging goodness.

I've been searching and searching, with no sign.

I started to think I was crazy, started to think I imagined being told of the magic amongst the trees. Started to think some bastard had lied to me.

And then today. Glorious, wondrous today! There they were suddenly.

Tiny, tightly furled green heads poking up from amongst the heavy layer of discarded leaves that make up the forest floor.

I was overwhelmed by garlicky, oniony goodness just brushing aside the leaves and debris.

And they weren't just in one spot. I was picking them out everywhere.

Isolated patches of them

Larger swathes of them

Yummy, delicious, once a year, limited time offer wild leeks. Just waiting for me to pluck them from their soil beds and give their lives meaning (at least that's how I choose to think of it.)

Can you tell that I'm excited?

Seriously, since the snow has melted I've been out there in that damn forest, poking about, searching in vain for signs of these guys. And I got 'em. Hooray for me!

And now let's talk about what else my daily trips to the forest have gotten me.

This

And this

And still more of this

The dogs have decided that mud puddles are, like, THE best things ever (or at least two of them have. Sugar and I prefer to tiptoe around giant piles of squishy gooeyness. 'Cause we're classy...and lady like.)

They take such joy in it though, it's hard to do anything but smile.

Especially when I can't stop thinking about wild veg....until I get home and it's time to get them clean (which must be done so we can get dirty again tomorrow!)

yet another first for me (chorizo and lentils)

 

Until last night I'd never cooked lentils before. I bought a package a couple of weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to cooking them. So I decided to do them pretty simply with chorizo sausage in a kind of stew sort of thing.

I know that chorizo and lentils is a pretty classic combo but as I was looking through various recipes for inspiration I found a lot of discrepancy in the way the dish is prepared. 

There were some recipes suggesting just adding the sausage to the cooking lentils - this I couldn't fathom since so much of the flavour from chorizo comes from the release of oils as it's being fried up.

There were some recipes calling for a cooking of the lentils in plain water with no additional seasonings added - I had to refer back to my Julia Child lessons here and insist on cooking my lentils with aromatic vegetables and some chicken stock to add immediate layers of flavour.

On the flip side to the plain water recipes some suggested cooking the lentils in straight stock. Some even added wine to the mix - I may have gone with straight stock (i just didn't have enough on hand)

...speaking of stock, I've become a total freak about making my own. If anyone's interested in a post on stock making, let me know!

Where was I? Right, cooking the lentils in wine - I just couldn't do it. I totally wanted some wine in the dish but it didn't make sense to me to only have it in the cooking liquid. I added my wine at a point when I could incorporate it into the whole dish.

Some recipes had the fully cooked lentils being added to the separately cooked sausage at the very last minute before serving. I envisioned more melding of the flavours. I figured if I waited to add the two components together at the last minute I'd missing out on an opportunity to allow the lentils to soak up the oils from the chorizo.

So this is what I came up, kind of a combo of what I saw as the best of all the recipes I found.

SeaBass had never had lentils before either...and was disturbed by the look of them when he came home - he's getting a little suspicious in his old age. I think he's spending too much time with my Dad.

But he loved them! After slopping down to super-human sized bowls he started feeding me suggestions for more lentil dishes.

As for me, I thought they were pretty damn good - if I do say so myself. The smokiness of the chorizo, the slight sweetness of the onion and garlic, the heat from the chili flakes made their way into every bit of the rich, slightly al dente lentils. The addition of the lentil cooking water blends everything together and adds even more lentil flavour. I love the pop of each individual lentil in your mouth.

This is a totally simple dish that I will be cooking again and again.

 Chorizo and Lentils

1 cup lentils

3 cups liquid (I used a combo of chicken stock and water)

1 whole carrot

2 whole celery stalks (with leaves)

1/2 bay leaf

1 tbsp olive oil

handful of chili flakes

2 links sweet chorizo

1 white onion diced

3 gloves garlic finely diced

good splash of white wine

Add lentils, liquid (stalk, water or combo), carrot, celery and bay leaf to pot.

Bring lentils to boil uncovered.

Cover and turn heat down to low.

Allow to simmer for 15-20 mins (the lentils will still be very firm).

While lentils are cooking heat olive oil and chili flakes in deep saute pan or pot.

Add onion and garlic to pan and saute until translucent. 

Dice chorizo and add to pan.

Saute until chorizo is cooked through.

Remove from heat until lentils are cooked.

When lentils are ready return chorizo to heat.

Add splash of white wine to deglaze pan.

Allow to cook down for a couple of minutes.

Drain liquid from lentils. Reserve liquid.

Remove carrot, celery, etc. from lentils.

Add lentils to pan with chorizo.

Add 1/2 cup of liquid from lentils.

Cook on low heat until lentils reach desired consistency.

Continue to add liquid if needed to keep the mixture loose and stew like.

i have a problem (the offal edition)

lord help me if I didn't just buy a cow's stomach. 

Tripe if you want to be delicate about it. 

I like the shock value of "cow stomach" personally. 

It happened like this; just the other day I was thinking, "cow stomach - interesting. I'd like to try cooking that sometime. Of course, I'll never find it up here. Oh well, probably for the better."

And then BAM! I was drawn like a magnet to the three or four packages of tripe in the meat section.

It's true, saw it from like a mile away. 

Damn I was happy. I felt all warm and fuzzy and excited.

SeaBass was stunned and amazed....and grossed out.

Is there a known theory of strange meat/offal attraction?

Now here I sit with my cow stomach (not literally - it's in the fridge. I stopped hugging it some moments after the discovery.) And I'm no longer sure what I'm going to do with my prize.

Please send help.

a case for home cooking

For Valentine's Day SeaBass gave me a Garland gas stove.

Actually it wasn't really for Valentine's Day. SeaBass knew a guy who had this stove to get rid of and it just so happened that it was delivered to me on that most false of holidays.

Today I took the first of what it appears will be many steps to clean my present and make it again the culinary beauty it once was.

I did not know that so much grease could accumulate on one surface.

I felt like I was in a movie with a creature rising from the black ooze in front of me.

Mostly I was frightened. I continue to be frightened. 

You see, this stove comes via a restaurant kitchen. An actual public eatery. Some people paid to eat food that was cooked on this horror show of an appliance.

I don't know what restaurant it was. I don't know who the chef might have been. 

I do know that when you add lemon scented cleaner to the aromas of stale grease you get an overwhelming perfume of lemon fish.

I pray to the Ontario Public Health Units. I pray to Gordon Ramsay in all his Kitchen Nightmare Glory. I pray that whoever is responsible for that mess is no longer serving the public in any food related form.

And I think it might be some time before I feel safe in a restaurant again.

top chef experiment: take three (dashi with miso cured cod)

I think the name of  this dish is a bit misleading. However, to list all of the starring components in the title might cause you to faint from hunger before you even get through reading it.

This is one of those special dishes where, to quote the great Tom Colicchio (and other random, lesser notables), "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

Bites of each ingredient on its own are tasty in their own right. But a single bite including a taste of each component part makes the dish a whole other thing; an experience unto itself.

Yes, I'm gushing. 

But the thing is, I'm in awe of someone who can take all these separate ingredients and make them work not just as a harmonious whole but also showcase each ingredient independently of the rest.

I'm gonna go ahead and guess that that's part of what made Michael Voltaggio the winner of Top Chef this season.

So, about the dish...

I know it seems a bit summery for, well, the dead of winter but it was just what I was looking for after all the holiday heaviness. Refreshing and light.

An important note, I used Atlantic Cod, not Black Cod as in the original.

Did you know that Black Cod isn't even really Cod, it's sablefish? 

No? Neither did I.

"Knowing is half the battle."

                        G.I. Joe (Real American Hero)

I am very aware of the issues of sustainability and over-fishing of this fish. In fact that's partly why I chose to use it and not Black Cod.

I'm a Newfie (half-Newfie anyways) and my family in Newfoundland was greatly affected by the moratorium placed on the cod fishery by the Canadian government 15 years ago. 

Atlantic Cod is part of my heritage, and I wanted to give it a moment in the culinary spotlight (however faint the spotlight of this blog might be.)

There is some good news for the Atlantic Cod. It is being successfully farmed and wild Cod stocks have recovered to the point where limited fishing is being once again allowed off the coast of Newfoundland.

Proof cod fishing has re-opened? We have a freezer full of the stuff, brought back from my Dad's trip "down home" this past summer.

But now back to Michael Voltaggio and his delicious creation.

 

It's been a while since I cooked anything Asian inspired. I almost forgot how much I love it. 

Each ingredient was so vibrant but so balanced. All the bright citrus contrasted with the earthiness of the dashi broth and the delicate cod.

And then there was the watermelon. That was the most surprising part of the dish for me. I wasn't totally sure how watermelon would fit in with citrus, fish and Asian flavours. But the watermelon really tied everything together. 

So amazing!

There was a lot of prep for this dish (my arm hurt from zesting) but the actual cooking was totally simple.

And so good! Did I mention it was good?

Here's the recipe:

Dashi with Miso Cured Cod

(adapted from Michael Voltaggio)

1 lb. fillet cod

1 cup miso paste

1/4 cup mirin

1//4 cup tamari soy sauce

5 sheets kombu

3 cups water

1 cup bonito flakes

2 cups shitake mushrooms (sliced very thinly)

1 tbsp. grated ginger

3 oranges (zest and juice)

3 lemons (zest and juice)

1/4 cup soy sauce

6 roma tomatoes (peeled and sliced thinly)

1 bunch green onions (green parts only) sliced thin

1/4 large seedless watermelon 

1 lime (zest and juice)

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Mix miso, mirin, and tamari soy sauce together.

Spread on sheet tray.

Place fish on tray flesh side down.

Marinate for an hour.

Place kombu in pot with 3 cups water.

Bring to a boil and immediately remove from heat.

Add bonito flakes.

Steep mixture for 3 minutes.

Place sliced shitakes in a bowl and pour steeped kombu mixture through a strainer and over the mushrooms.

Add ginger and allow to come to room temp.

Chill mixture over ice bath.

Add orange, lemon and lime zest and juices, tomatoes, green onions and soy sauce.

Cut watermelon into 2 inch thick rectangles and marinate in lime zest, juice and olive oil.

Remove fish from marinade.

Wipe off excess cure and Pat dry thoroughly with paper towel.

Cut into serving sized portions and slowly sear in a pan with oil (skin side down.)

Sear until skin is crispy then flip and finish cooking.

Allow fish to rest.

Place marinated watermelon in bowl and spoon in dashi broth.

Place fish on top.

Garnish with green onion.

happy new year and happy charcuterie

I was surprised last night to find that I was having a harder time with New Year's Eve than I had with Christmas.

I suppose the symbolism of New Year's had something to do with it.

I think our little family managed to get through Christmas by avoiding many of our usual traditions. But New Years, well midnight arrives no matter how hard you try to ignore it. The calendar year rolls forward whether you're prepared or not.

SeaBass and I originally planned to go out for dinner and then see a movie that would run through the big moment - I like passive aggressive avoidance. It works for me.

But at the last moment neither of us could bring ourselves to leave my father.

I'm not sure yet if I'm glad we made that decision or not. Because it was a really rough one.

I'm glad it's over.

So, in the spirit of a new year and a renewed focus let's talk food, shall we?

My guanciale is ready. And it's a beautiful thing.

The finished product is really everything I hoped for.

It's like pancetta on steroids.

The strong pork flavour is perfectly balanced with the creamy fattiness.

I really like the cure I used this time. The heat of the crushed chili flakes is in harmony with both the saltiness and sweetness of the sugar in the cure. The rosemary and thyme enhance the natural porkiness and beautiful fat.

Today I fried some guanciale and enjoyed it on it's own to get a real sense of the flavours and texture. 

By frying the pork on lowest heat you can see how you release all of the fat that will lend incredible flavour to any dish. The end product is crispy and wonderful and I am further in love with all things pork.

I hope the success of this experiment doesn't go to my head!

top chef experiment: take two (georgia style braised pork shoulder)

My blog related absence this past week or more was due to one thing: Christmas.

I was suffering my way through some first Christmas without Mom depression that had me feeling very sleepy and unmotivated.

This sad state was very helpfully balanced though by an extreme nervousness surrounding the preparation of my first Christmas turkey (first turkey in general, actually.) These nerves had me constantly making lists, revising lists, adding to lists, realizing that the scope of my lists were bordering on insane, editing lists and finally sucking it up and dragging my pile of lists along on numerous shopping trips.

Just because I make lists does not mean that I am actually, in any way, organized. 

The lists only mean that I can actually pin-point what I forgot when I get home and realize that the sinking feeling of having forgotten something major was, in fact, totally accurate.

So yeah, basically there was no way I was pulling myself together to post anything!

Christmas now being safely behind us (with a New Year's roast looming over my head) I can tell you all that my turkey was delicious (is it bad manners to say that about your own food?) That I  somehow managed to still by WAY too much food. And that all of my family members made it through our first holiday minus the centre of our small universe mostly unscathed.

A couple of days before Christmas I tackled my second top chef experiment: Georgia Style Braised Pork Shoulder.

I went with another Kevin Gillespie recipe (let me tell you now that there will be no rhyme nor reason to the dishes I choose to cook other than what local ingredients I have to choose from and what sounds tasty at the time.) 

Kevin's food is really appealing to me in it's flavour profiles and also in the simplicity of the preparations. As a home cook I feel comfortable with his recipes.

Pork Shoulder

1 pork shoulder roast

4 pieces celery diced

3 onions diced

1 very large carrot diced

1 cup yellow mustard

1 cup cider vinegar

1 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

dash black pepper

salt

8 cups water

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Slice pork shoulder into 8 oz. portions.

Season with s&p

2 tbsp. oil in large stock pot.

Heat oil to sear pork shoulder portions until browned.

Transfer to large vessel to collect juices.

Add vegetables to same stock pot and carmelize until golden.

Return pork shoulder (and juices) to pot on top of vegetables.

Add in remaining ingredients.

Mix well.

Place in oven for 2 1/2 hours.

Remove from braising liquid and shred.

Serve with Eli's potato salad (recipe to follow)

I found my shoulder a little dry so I decided to add light coating of a Georgia style (vinegar based) barbecue sauce. It ended up going really beautifully with the flavours of Eli's potato salad and really brought the two components together.

Georgia Style Barbecue Sauce

3 1/2 tbsp. white vinegar

1/4 tsp mustard powder

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp white sugar

2 tsp butter

1/4 of 6 oz. can tomato paste

Combine everything but tomato paste in small pot.

Bring to boil.

Add tomato paste and stir until well blended and thickened.

Eli's Potato Salad

1 lb. russet potatoes

1/2 red onion julienned

1 piece celery small diced

2  hard boiled eggs, chopped

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/8 cup yellow mustard

1/16 cup pickled relish

1 tbsp. cider vinegar

1/8 cup sour cream

s&p

Boil potatoes and red onions in salted water until tender.

Shock in ice bath and drain.

In a large bowl mix vegetables and egg..

Mix together mayo, mustard, relish, vinegar and sour cream.

Season dressing with s&p.

Add to salad and mix until potatoes cream together.

Serve with Kevin's pork shoulder on top.

My verdict on the dish: Deliciously tasty. The only potato salad I generally enjoy is my mother's but this one was wonderful and creamy, the mustard adding a nice boost of flavour. 

The pork shoulder was subtly seasoned with the pork flavour really coming through. It had a beautiful texture.

I couldn't stop snacking on it and SeaBass was totally into it. Definitely worth trying.

Next up: Michael Voltaggio's cod with dashi broth.

P.S. If anyone wants to suggest a dish or has tried a dish they'd like to post about on my blog, let me know!

top chef experiment: take one (roasted beets and carrots with carrot top puree)

I love Top Chef.

It's like the most perfect combination of guilty reality television and food porn.

Thank god for a reality show that leaves me feeling inspired and not like I started out having a civilized glass of wine,

Which turned into a crazy drinking binge,

The decision to take scissors to the tightest, shortest, most man-made fibrous dress that I own,

Go out on the town,

Black out,

And finally end up in some stranger's apartment with no bloody clue how to get home.

Thank you Jersey Shore.

(Also: I would like to make it clear that I have never worn a drunkenly customized polyester dress. As for the rest - well let's just say my memory is a little fuzzy.)

Back to the topic at hand. Every season of Top Chef has outdone the last. After Top Chef: Vegas I'm not sure how it could get any better. 

The talent on the show was incredible. The food produced was both beautiful and, more importantly, yummy.

Or at least I think it was yummy. I'm mostly taking the judges' word for it that having to decide a winning dish based on basic use of salt and pepper as seasoning because the overall taste level was so high means that the food was incredibly good.

Why didn't it occur to me until now to actually attempt to cook some of my favourite dishes from the show? 

I'm gonna go with the old stand-by and say that my general lack of the use of logic had a lot to do with it.

But no more will I sit idly by and drool at my television.

Of course, that's partly because the Top Chef season is over (and I'm crying inside).

Last night marked my first experiment with a Top Chef recipe and I will continue to experiment with the recipes once a week.

I think......no, once a week it is. 

I think I have a commitment problem.

I started with Kevin's recipe from the second last episode. I was totally in love with the dish the moment I saw it. It was gorgeous on the plate and a beautiful showcase of the flavours of carrot and beet.

Roasted Beets and Carrots with Carrot Top Puree

(adapted from recipe by Kevin Gillespie)

Ingredients

1 pound Beets (I used the local golden and candy-cane beets I had)
1 lb Baby carrots
2 tablespoons Butter
* 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Syrup
1 cup carrot tops
** 1/3 cup green onion (green parts only)
1/3 cup parsley
1/3 cup tarragon
1Z2 cup honey
2 cups olive oil
*** Dubliner cheese

* I made a syrup by cooking down apple cider until thick.

** The original recipe called for chives, which I couldn't find.

*** Original recipe called for San Andre cheese - a no go for me. As a note, San Andre is apparently made in the style of a pecorino so the next time I make this, I'll be going with that type of cheese. 

Directions

Beets:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Trim ends off beets making one side a flat surface.

Place beets in a large pan with the flat side down 

Cover the bottom with 1/8 inch of water. 

Cover pan with foil.

Cook at 400 degrees for 90 minutes.

When cooked keep covered with foil until beets reach room temp. 

Remove beet skins.

Carrots:

Peel carrots and halve.

Cut into similar shapes.

Place carrots in single layer in deep saute pan.

Cover with water, butter and apple cider syrup. 

Cook uncovered on medium high heat until liquid is absorbed and carrots are just tender. 

If carrots are not tender add more butter, water, syrup and cook a little longer.

Remove from pan immediately and let cool.

Carrot Top Puree:

Combine carrot tops, green onion (chives), parsley and tarragon in blender.

Add 6 ice cubes.

Add enough olive oil to cover 3/4 ingredients.

Blend on high.

Add water if mixture gets too thick.

Season with s&p. 

Strain mixture.

Put strained mixture in covered container and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Honey Vinaigrette:

Boil honey in pot.

Keep close eye on honey to observe it darkening by stages.

When it has darkened a few stages add apple cider vinegar.

Bring to boil

Season with s&p.

Whisk in 1 cup olive oil.

Putting it all together

Toss the carrots and beets with vinaigrette.

Spoon puree on to plate.

Top with vegetables.

Add thinly shaved cheese. 

The verdict:

This was SO good. I had to beg SeaBass to leave me enough veggies to take photos today. Immediately after posting this I will be finishing that little bit off! 

I'm looking very forward to the next experiment.

One last pic I had to share

Just loved the way the trees from my backyard got reflected in the bowl. An unexpected photographic surprise.