Roasted red beets with pea shoot coulis
Inspired by “Millefeuille of red beetroot,” a dish from the Rijks restaurant in Amsterdam
One of the most enjoyable aspects of producing blog posts for TarteTatinTales is developing its recipes. Inspiration often comes from a dish tasted at a restaurant. The challenge then becomes how to recreate it and give it a personal twist to make the recipe my own.
Normally when I go back to a restaurant I’ll try something different. However, on my second visit to the Michelin-starred Rijks restaurant in Amsterdam, it was impossible to pass up Chef Bijdendijk’s signature “millefeuille of red beetroot.” In fact, I added it to the already copious tasting menu as a supplemental dish. Who bypasses perfection, I ask you?
Back home in my own kitchen, I couldn’t wait to play with the dish. Step one was to figure out how to simplify it. I knew who it was made as our waiter that evening explained the dish’s complicated preparation. As he recounted, Chef Bijdendijk slices up a whole beet into a long, continuous ribbon using a special mandolin. Next, he rolls it up like a miniature rug and ties it with a string. To maintain the dish’s flavor intensity, he gently boils it in beet juice. Last step is to cut the roll in half and serve it along side a parsley cream sauce.
I feared this technique might be too hard to duplicate so I took the easy way out. I simply roasted medium-sized beets in the oven, one per guest. Once cooked and cooled, the outer peel was removed. Then I sliced off four edges of the beet’s round exterior to create a square. This was sliced paper thin using a sharp knife. Each beet was reassembled into a bundle and tied with a long chive stem.
To be different, I chose to make a coulis with fresh pea shoots to accompany each beet “package.” Pea shoots showed up at my greenmarket, a welcome sign of spring. Adding a personal touch to the dish, I envisioned that the pea shoots’ grassy sweetness and vibrant lime-green color would bring an elegance to the dish.
Have a look at the photograph and tell me which dish looks the most appetizing. The original dish is on top. While I love my chive wrap presentation with its purple blossom as decoration, to be honest, food is more about the taste than the look. I acquiesce. The chef’s dish was ethereal. Mine was merely delicious. And damn pretty.
Ingredients:
6 medium-sized red beets, roasted in the oven and once cooled, exterior skin removed
6 long chive stems
6 chive blossoms for decoration
For the coulis:
9 cups fresh pea shoots, washed and dried
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
1/3 cup thinly sliced shallots
½ cup milk, at boiling point
3 tablespoons fresh goat’s milk cheese, at room temperature
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Cooking instructions:
1. Slice off edges of each roasted beet to create a square. Thinly slice, pack together to create a square bundle, then tie together with a long chive stem. Set aside while you prepare the coulis.
2. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to boil in a large pan. Add pea shoots and boil for 2 minutes. Drain, then refresh the shoots in a large bowl of ice water. Drain again and wrap in paper towels. Squeeze thoroughly to eliminate all the water and set aside.
3. In a medium size saucepan, gently boil the cream and shallots until reduced by one third.
4. Add the drained pea shoots and boil for another 2 minutes, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and stir in hot milk (heated in the microwave) and goat’s milk cheese, stirring until fully integrated. Either using a standard blender or a handheld stick blender, purée 3-4 minutes until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and allow it to cool.
5. To plate the dish, distribute the coulis evenly in six soup bowls. Place a beet bundle in the center of each dish and garnish with a chive blossom.
Serves: 6
Wine recommendations: Grüner Veltliner, dry-style Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Cru Beaujolais, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, or Tempranillo.