ROASTED BEETS AND GREENS IN CREAMY MUSTARD-MINCEMEAT SAUCE
Oven-roasted beets combined with fresh cooked collard greens and spinach along with caramelized onion and walnuts. Served in a casserole dish smothered in a rich sweet and sour mustard, mincemeat, garlic, rosemary and red grape cream sauce!
Serves 6
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Roasted beets. Make these one or more days before assembling dish to save time (if you want to):
2 bunches fresh beets; remove stems and leaves (reserve); cut off ends, peel.
Drizzle a little olive oil on a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Smooth evenly over bottom.
Place whole beets in dish. Cover with foil and bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 1 hour, or till a long 2-pronged fork comes out easily when inserted in center of beets. Remove from oven, cool, then cover and refrigerate till you’re ready to proceed with this dish.
Wash the beet greens, tear off the bad parts, break off the stems and keep separate. You’ll be cooking these with the other greens. If your beets don’t have greens attached, not to worry, we have enough with the others.
When ready to proceed, reheat beets covered with foil in the 9 x 13 inch baking dish in a 350 degree oven till very hot.
This is the baking dish you’ll be serving the beet and green dish in. Remove from oven. Holding each beet steady with a fork, use a sharp knife to slice the beets, then when you get to the end of the beet, lay it over on the flat side and cut the end into chunks. Set aside.
Mustard-Mincement Sauce:
1/4 c. margarine
5 peeled garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. Balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. white vinegar
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/4 c. prepared yellow mustard
2 T. Dijon mustard
1 c. mincemeat (I used Crosse & Blackwell Rum & Brandy Mincemeat Filling & Topping)
1/2 c. water
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. liquid smoke
about 1 T. fresh rosemary needles
1-1/2 t. salt
lots of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c. Grade A maple syrup
1 c. fresh seedless red grapes
12 oz. container soy sour cream (I used Toffiti brand)
additional salt to taste
a sprig or 2 of fresh rosemary for garnish
Combine all ingredients, except red grapes, soy sour cream and additional salt, in large saucepan. Turn on heat to medium and stir all ingredients to mix well. Bring to a soft boil, stirring occasionally, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook about 20 minutes, again, stirring occasionally.
Add grapes and soy sour cream. Stir with wire whisk to thoroughly incorporate the sour cream into the sauce. Bring almost to a boil, stirring occasionally, then reduce heat to low and cook for about 10 minutes.
At this point, the sauce will need more salt due to the addition of the sour cream, so salt like you would salt a gravy. We want to be able to taste the saltiness. You be the judge. Turn heat off.
Cooking the Greens:
16 oz. pkg. cut collard greens
9 oz. pkg. flat leaf spinach
beet greens that have been washed and trimmed
Fill an extra large pot with about 4-5 inches water. Don’t salt the water. Bring to boil.
Add collard greens first. Push down into the boiling water, partially cover and cook at a slow boil till tender, about 15-20 minutes. Turn the heat off and let set till you’re ready to assemble the dish.
When you’re ready to assemble, add the beet greens to the pot. Cook till tender. Add spinach to the pot, and cook for just a few minutes.
Drain all greens in a colander, then using a large spoon, push the greens against the bottom and sides of the colander to extract the excess liquid. Set aside.
Sauteing the Onions:
1-2 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 c. diced yellow onion, 1/2 inch squares
salt and freshly ground black pepper
heaping 1/2 c. walnut halves
In medium skillet, over medium heat, melt olive oil. Add onion, salt and pepper and saute till caramelized (lightly browned and soft).
Add the walnuts. Stir well to coat with the oil. Cook for no longer than 1 minute, then turn off heat. You don’t want to crisp up the walnuts.
Assembling the dish to serve:
Making sure that all ingredients are hot, add greens and sauteed onion and walnuts to beets. Stir to distribute ingredients evenly.
Pour all of the sauce over the beets and greens. Don’t stir too much at this point, because you don’t want the beets to completely bleed into the sauce. Just poke the ingredients around, making sure the sauce reaches everything. Lightly pound the baking dish on the counter to settle the sauce into the veggies.
Garnish with a few fresh rosemary leaves and bring your Holiday Main Dish to the table.
Notes: This dish didn’t take that long at all, especially since I roasted the beets two days before.
All you need now is either a mashed potato or baked yams and a stuffing. You already have the fruit, nuts, greens and veggies all in one dish. The sweet and sour of the sauce take care of the need for salad and the cranberry sauce. You won’t feel like dessert – the mincemeat took care of that.
There’s a lot of sauce, which takes care of the need for a gravy for the potatoes and/or stuffing.
It’s September 7th. I made this dish for supper, getting ready for the Holiday season of recipes. We both loved it. I didn’t do the potatoes and stuffing, but wanted both. Happy Holidays!
Oh, if you’ve never tried Crosse & Blackwell Mincemeat, give it a try. I was eating it right out of the jar – so good!
