Recipe Night: Straight from Our Backyard
Jun 20
you guys, i made the best dinner last night and, even better, most of the fresh ingredients were right out of our backyard. we did our initial planting back at the end of april and we our first harvest (?) yesterday. the kale and beets were ready to go so i figured i should to create a meal based around these beautiful veggies. of course i turned to pinterest for help and quickly became totally overwhelmed with choices (let’s just say i have the next couple of weeks worth of meals planned out) but i was able to settle on THIS and THIS for inspiration.
CHICKPEA, AVOCADO and KALE SALAD and BEET TART
ingredients:
salad:
- kale, chopped
- chickpeas (washed)
- avocado
- a handful of fresh basil, chopped
- red onion, minced
- garlic (i used 3 cloves), minced
- salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, to taste
- dressing: extra virgin olive oil, honey and fresh lemon juice
tart:
- 6 large beets, peeled
- olive oil
- fresh thyme
- salt and pepper
- 1 sheet of puff pastry
- 1/4 blue cheese, crumbled
- 1/4 goat cheese, crumbled
- dried figs
- honey
first things first, you’ve gotta prep the beets. in my brief history with beets (i only started eating them about a year ago…i’m weird…and clearly i’d been missing out), i’ve always roasted them whole and then peeled them when they were done. but this recipe suggested roasting them sliced and peeled. i’m pretty sure either way will work but i went with it. pre-heat your oven to 400, peel and slice your beets and then lay them out on a cookie sheet covered in foil. drizzle with oil, salt and pepper and cook for about 10 minutes. you’ll notice that i supplemented our backyard beets with some beets we had left over from last week’s farmers market. ABN was worried we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference but ours ended up having these beautiful stripes so we were all good.
while the beets are roasting away, roll out your pastry dough (you need to let it come to room temperature first) and lay it out on another cookie sheet, this time lined with a baking slip. when the beets are done, add them to the pastry dough, leaving about an inch all the way around. fold that pastry dough in and pinch the corners. throw the whole thing in the oven (again at 400) for 10 minutes. then reduce the heat to 350 and continue to cook for another 20 minutes. next – add the chopped figs and a drizzle of honey and cook for a final 10 minutes or until the pastry dough is nice and brown.
while the pastry is in the oven, but before you start your salad, take the time to pour yourself a nice drink – i find drinking and cooking go so well together 
. since we were enjoying this gorgeous summer meal i decided to treat myself to a spiked ARNOLD PALMER. yum.
okay, now time to tackle the salad. wash and chop your kale. add chopped onion and garlic, the avocado and chickpeas. drizzle with oil, salt and pepper to taste, red pepper flakes and a bit of honey. toss – a lot, until the kale is fully coated. now here’s the key – put that baby in the fridge and let it sit for at least 15 minutes to let everything soak in good
once the tart is done, remove from oven and add crumbled goat and blue cheese.
refill your glass, serve immediately and enjoy! can’t wait for the leftovers tonight.
