roasted beet and couscous salad

Believe it or not, I have never eaten a beet before this summer. I have to thank my CSA share for the introduction of this completely underrated food. For the longest time I just looked at beets from afar at the grocery store, discouraged by its rough, dry exterior. When confronted with it in our share -which means that the food was prepaid for- I still remained hesitant to do more with than shred it over a salad or boil it as a side snack to accompany our meals. Once my daughter got a taste, she was hooked! So i simply had to find a way to make better use of this abundantly healthy root vegetable.

For those of you who lead a far less sheltered food life than I, I'm sure you'll agree that the secret to enhancing flavor -as with most other root vegetables- is to roast it! Roasting brings out the robust, metallic sweet flavor of beets like boiling or pickling never could. And roasting it, as with all other vegetables, makes it a perfect accompaniment to this flavorful couscous salad.

I've created this delicious, versatile dish after sifting through recipes for inspiration on what to do with my surplus of beets. The best thing about this recipe is that it meets my guidelines for any cooking: (a) it's low-maintenance, (b) includes ingredients I have on hand, and (c) is versatile.

Roasted Beet and Couscous Salad

Serves: 4 as a meal, 6 as a side
Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour

4 medium beets scrubbed clean, ends trimmed
1 Tbs + 1/2 C Olive oil
1 Tbs freshly grated ginger
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or, to taste)
1 1/2 C chicken stock
1 1/2 C couscous
1/4 medium red onion, finely diced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced lengthwise
1 C cucumbers, diced into 1/2" cubes

Dressing:
1/4 C red wine vinegar
2 Tbs honey
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 C fresh mint, roughly chopped, plus a few whole leaves for garnishing

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Wrap each beet bulb in foil, and bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes or until beets are slightly soft when pierced with a fork. Scrape off the loose skin after setting it aside for at least 10 minutes to cool, and chop into large pieces, about 2 inches wide.

While the beets are roasting, prepare the couscous. Using 1 Tbs olive oil, saute the ginger, cumin, coriander, and cayenne pepper over medium heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add in the chicken stock. Once the stock begins to boil add in the couscous, stir to incorporate the flavors, then remove the saute pan from the heat and let the couscous sit for 5 minutes, covered.

To make the dressing, whisk together red wine vinegar, honey, salt and 1/2 C olive oil until emulsified. Mix in the chopped mint leaves.

To a large bowl, add the couscous, onion, tomatoes, cucumber, and roasted beets. Drizzle the dressing over the salad while continuously tossing and turning the salad. Garnish with whole mint leaves.

Fun substitutions / additions: If I had goat cheese in my 'fridge, small nubs of this most certainly have made it into the bowl. A mild Greek feta would also work well. I also think that roasted corn, scallions, and chopped boiled eggs might work as textural additions; basil or rosemary could be substituted for the mint; and whole grains like barley or quinoa would make an even healthier, heartier version. This salad is served well at room temperature, and abundantly better after resting in the 'fridge for at least an hour.

$50 a week: revised

so, i couldn't go more than 1 week without spending more than $50 on my food budget. we're healthy eaters around here, which means buying (mostly) organic and often spending 2x more on expensive products. i did scale back on the extra-foods (buying multiples of one item, just because it's on sale; buying anything luxury like cookies or a special fruit preserve). what i didn't do was compromise the complexity of a typical meal. here is what i came up with as a meal plan for the week (not including lunches/breakfasts):

Friday: teriyaki salmon, brown rice, sauteed cooking greens
[leftovers reused: none]
[CSA produce: cooking greens including kale, swiss chard, and garlic scapes]
[conventional purchases: soy sauce, brown sugar, orange juice, ginger]
[organic purchases: salmon*, brown rice]
*although there is technically no labelling for organic fish, I only purchase wild caught, dye-free salmon

Saturday: mostly unaccounted for since we had potluck food at a birthday party, although i did bring fruit salad
[conventional purchases: cantelope, watermelon]
[organic purchase: grapes]

Sunday: lemon & herb roasted chicken breast on the bone, spinach rice, orange slices
[leftovers reused: none]
[CSA produce: sage, thyme, oregano]
[conventional purchases: lemon, spinach, basmati rice, oranges]
[organic purchases: bone-in chicken breast]

Monday: leftover meal from Sunday, mixed greens salad
[ leftovers resued: chicken meat, spinach rice]
[CSA produce: mixed greens, fennel, cucumber]
[conventional purchases: see Sunday]
[organic purchases: see Sunday, plus grape tomatoes]

Tuesday: zucchini/summer squash casserole, plus mixed fruit salad
[leftovers reused: bread from calzones made last week, fruit salad from Saturday]
[CSA produce: basil]
[conventional purchases: zucchini/summer squash, sundried tomatoes, cheeses]
[organic purcahses: eggs]

Wednesday: meatball calzone, sausage/pepper/onion calzone, and mixed green salad
[leftovers reused: pepper and onions from spinach rice on Monday, mixed greens]
[CSA produce: onion, fennel, radish]
[conventional purchases: sausage]
[organic purchases: beef, garlic]

Thursday: mexican soup, bread, and fruit salad with mango and lime
[leftovers reused: bones from chicken on Monday to make stock, bread, fruit salad]
[CSA produce: mixed cooking greens, onion; thyme, sage, parsley for chicken stock]
[conventional purchases: beans, mango, lime]
[organic purchases: carrots, celery]

Total cost: $72.62
This cost includes the approximate cost of my weekly CSA, plus all staple items not mentioned in the meal plan (yogurt, milk, bananas, blueberries). It does not include the cost of items we consumed that I already have in-stock (flour, sugar, yeast, salt, cereal, and oatmeal].

What I've learned:
- We cut some costs by making our own breads (for the calzone, banana bread for breakfast).
- We also cut some costs by making things from scratch (spinach rice, non-instant oatmeal for breakfasts, chicken stock)
- Making everything from scratch takes only a little extra time, but mostly, lots of mindful cooking and planning
- One major way to cut time is to reuse items, and cook/prep items for a future meal while working on the current one.
- Fruit, in all forms, is quite expensive and probably should be cut back a bit.