By David Tanis, The New York Times
In January after all the holiday gluttony (or even slightly sooner), I always want to pivot to something lighter. I often look to the eastern Mediterranean for inspiration, counting on lots of bright flavors featuring spices, fresh herbs, lemon and olive oil.
I craved a scarlet-red beet salad, modeled on one I tasted in Istanbul a few years ago, and a large plate of herb-flecked rice — the kind you might find in Turkish stuffed grape leaves. But, rather than roll individual dolmas, I opted for a less labor-intensive family size package, wrapped in chard leaves. For dessert? A flaky, honey-drizzled apple tart.
For the best beet salad, cook your own beets — simply boil or roast them any time you have a free moment, even a day or two ahead. Then, slip off the skins while the beets are still slightly warm. Slice them just before you make the salad.
Bathe the beets in a simple vinaigrette with olive oil and citrus juice and zest, along with a little sumac or pomegranate molasses. To serve, toss with chopped celery and mint, then garnish with pomegranate seeds. It’s a feast for the eyes.
Now about the rice, meant to be assembled in advance. The rice is fully cooked — boiled in water like pasta. It’s then drained, cooled and generously seasoned with browned onions, chopped almonds and pistachios, raisins, lemon zest and juice, and lots of dill and tarragon, before being wrapped in large, blanched chard leaves and baked.
Make sure to dollop a large spoonful of unapologetically sour whole-milk yogurt on top of each portion before serving. A lot of American yogurts can be creamy and bland, not what you want here. Find more puckery yogurt at a Middle Eastern or Indian store, or add a bit of sumac or lemon juice.
For an easy, satisfying fruit dessert, phyllo dough is just the thing. You don’t have to make the pastry from scratch, but you still get a very flaky result. I topped mine with spiced sliced apples. Instead of the usual melted butter, I used fruity extra-virgin olive oil to paint the phyllo sheets and found it quite pleasant, especially with a final drizzle of honey. Use butter if you prefer, and feel free to experiment with rolling the dough into cigar shapes or creating phyllo turnovers.
I consider this a casual meal, not a fancy dinner party. (Coming over for dinner? I’m making a couple of tasty dishes; we’ll eat in the kitchen.) I’d serve the beet salad and the rice side by side, and a big spoonful of yogurt to go with both. I’d be perfectly happy to have them together and call it a meal. But if your crowd would call that having a side dish for supper, the rice won’t mind sharing the bill with a roast chicken, a lamb chop, sautéed mushrooms or a piece of broiled fish.
Beet Salad With Celery and Pomegranate
By David Tanis
Yield: 6 servings
Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes
It’s nice to make this beet salad in winter when pomegranates are available. For the best result, cook your own beets — simply boil or roast them any time you have a free moment, even a day or two ahead. Then, slip off the skins while the beets are still slightly warm. Slice them just before you make the salad. Sumac, available in Middle Eastern grocery shops, adds tartness, as would a spoonful of pomegranate molasses. To serve, toss with chopped celery and mint, then garnish with pomegranate seeds. It’s a feast for the eyes.
Ingredients
- 6 medium beets (about 2 pounds), roasted and peeled (see Tip)
- Salt and black pepper
- 1 cup chopped celery hearts and leaves
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- Zest and juice from half an orange
- 2 teaspoons ground sumac (optional)
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
- 2 tablespoons chopped mint
- A handful of arugula leaves
Preparation
1. Cut beets into 1/4-inch-thick slices. (Alternatively, dice, julienne or grate the beets.) Place in a salad bowl and season with salt and pepper.
2. Add celery to the bowl, but wait to toss.
3. Make the dressing: Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice and zest. Season with salt and pepper.
4. To serve, sprinkle beets and celery with sumac, if using, then add pomegranate seeds and mint. Toss gently, then add dressing and toss to coat. Taste and adjust seasoning.
5. Divide among individual salad plates or pile onto a platter. Surround with arugula leaves.
Tip
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Put scrubbed beets in a small roasting pan filled with an inch of water. Cover tightly and bake until beets are tender when probed with a paring knife or skewer, about 1 hour. (Cook beets up to 2 days ahead and reheat if you wish.)
Herbed Rice in Chard Leaves
By David Tanis
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes
This savory dish echoes the flavors of stuffed grape leaves, but this large-format version is easier. (Of course, if you prefer to make smaller dolma-like packages, that’s fine, too.) It’s best served warm with a good dollop of tart yogurt on top, but if your yogurt isn’t sufficiently sour, add a little lemon juice or sumac. Although this is a happy main course side by side with a beet salad, it could also be an accompaniment to roast chicken or grilled fish.
Ingredients
- Salt and black pepper
- 2 cups Arborio rice
- 5 tablespoons olive oil, more for brushing
- 1 large white onion, diced (about 2 cups)
- 12 large chard leaves (about 2 bunches), stems removed
- 3/4 cup chopped dill
- 3/4 cup golden raisins
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped roasted almonds
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped roasted pistachios
- 2 tablespoons chopped tarragon (optional)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Zest and juice of 1 large lemon
- Pinch of ground cayenne
- 1 cup crumbled feta
- Plain tart yogurt, for serving
Preparation
1. Set a pot of abundantly salted water to boil over high heat. Add rice and cook until just done and a bit firm, about 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.
2. Refill the pot with more heavily salted water and bring to a boil.
3. Heat a large skillet, and add 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add onions, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, over medium heat, until softened and lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Meanwhile, blanch chard leaves briefly in boiling salted water. Drain and cool in water, dry, then spread flat on a work surface.
5. In a large bowl, combine rice and onions. Fold in remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil with a wooden spoon. Add dill, raisins, almonds, pistachios, tarragon (if using), oregano, lemon zest and juice, and cayenne. Season generously with salt and pepper, and toss well to combine. Add feta and toss to distribute. Taste and adjust — the seasoning should be bold.
6. Oil a 10-inch pie plate or other baking dish. Line with half of the leaves arranged on the bottom, leaving some hanging over the edge of the dish. Add rice in a mound, then cover with remaining chard leaves, tucking in the edges.
7. Paint the package with olive oil, give it a little sprinkling of salt (flaky if you like) and bake for 30 minutes. Serve warm with a dollop of tart yogurt on top.
Easy Apple Tart
By David Tanis
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Total time: 1 hour
For an easy, satisfying fruit dessert, phyllo dough is just the thing. You don’t have to make the pastry for a very flaky result. Here, it’s topped with spiced sliced apples and painted with extra-virgin olive oil instead of the usual melted butter. Still, use butter if you prefer, and feel free to experiment with cigar shapes or phyllo turnovers.
Ingredients
- 4 large apples, peeled and thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil or melted unsalted butter, more for pan
- 8 (13-by-18-inch) sheets phyllo dough
- 1/2 cup orange marmalade, thinned with 2 tablespoons boiling water
- 2 tablespoons flavorful honey, warmed, for drizzling
Preparation
1. In a large bowl, toss apples with sugar, ginger, zest, cloves and cinnamon.
2. Lightly oil a 12-by-18-inch baking sheet, and lay a sheet of phyllo on top. Drizzle with olive oil, then lightly paint it on with a pastry brush. Continue layering the sheets, painting each with olive oil, until you run out.
3. With a pastry brush, coat the top layer with the thinned marmalade.
4. Add apples, leaving behind any liquid, and use the palm of your hand to flatten them out into an even layer, covering the whole top.
5. Fold pastry edges over to make a 1-inch border. Sprinkle the edges lightly with sugar.
6. Bake at 375 degrees until golden and crisp, 30 to 40 minutes. Drizzle with honey. Serve warm or at room temperature.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
