Sunday, July 15, 2012

Chopped Vegan Round Deux: Just Beet It!

Orange Zest and Beet Ice Cream In A Toasted Coconut And Crispy Brown Rice Coating, Topped With Mango Coulis
Photograph Taken By The Special One!
     Is it just me or is there just one ingredient that makes this competition difficult? In Round Uno, it was the bittersweet chocolate. This time it was the beets. The previous installment, I danced around it, shaving some chocolate over the dish. Now, I wanted to pull the beets from the ground per se and take it on full force, so I went with the orange zest and beet ice cream. I made several homemade ice creams before (cake batter, pumpkin & green tea) but wanted to get a little wacky with the flavors, which is why I bought Jeni's book, hoping the veganize the recipes inside. The beet ice cream makes sense since I'm residing in Utah. Here, in the Beehive State, we take our beets seriously. I bet you don't believe me but there's even a school football team named the Beetdiggers. There's probably some historic story that goes along with it, but I haven't been here long enough to here it.
Jordan Beetdigger Logo
I Tell No Lies

      Anyway, I was hoping for some beets from my CSA, but I missed the pick-up this week. So I headed to the downtown farmer's market and got some glorious organic and local beets from Wilkerson farms in Orem. One of my newest and greatest finds at the farmer's market, along with fresh goji berries. I'll be doing a post some about the awesome farmer's market finds and some great eats sometime this week, I promise!
Mystery Ingredients: Beets, Mango, Coconut and Crispy Rice Cereal
No Secrets Here!
     I was nervous about making the beet ice cream, but apparently I'm (or Isa is) pretty hip since NPR just aired a story about how awesome beets are with some great recipes, like a beet smoothie. Me? I've always loved beets, especially roasted beets. They add great flavor and color to salads. But ice cream, I bet (beet?) you're asking have I gone to far? No way, jose! The beet ice cream had a great flavor and went awesome with the orange zest. The toasted coconut complimented the flavors as well and the crispy rice gave that I'm kinda like a jimmie, but not as colorful texture. I learned from Vegan Brunch that coulis is just a fancier way of saying sauce, so that's why it's not just a mango sauce. Originally, I started out with the brown sugar mango coulis, but ended up shelving it because the brown sugar took away the bright yellow color that I wanted. Since I adapted the recipes from other places, I'll post them below.
Beet Ice Cream Ala Mode
Gotta Love Ice Cream That Color!
Beet Ice Cream Ingredients:
2 medium roasted beets, peeled
2 cups soy milk
1 TBS, plus 1 teaspoon tapioca starch (corn starch is okay, but make sure it's organic so it's GMO free!)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/4 Cup (One can) of coconut cream (the full fat stuff, dessert is not the time to go on a diet, folks)
2/3 Cup sugar, plus 2 TBS of sugar
2 TBS light corn syrup
zest of one organic orange

Directions:
Wrap the scrubbed beets in tin foil and set them in an oven at 400 degrees for one hour. Once slightly cooled, peel the beets and put them in the food processor with 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Set aside. Now take 2 TBS of the soy milk and mix with the tapioca starch in a separate bowl. Place the rest of the into a pot and bring to a boil, boil for a few minutes, being careful not to burn it. Remove from the heat and gradually mix in the starch and bring back to a boil until thickened, about 2 minutes or so. Then, mix in the orange zest and the beet puree and put into the fridge for at least two hours to chill. Then, place into your ice cream machine and follow directions.

Roasted Beet
So Delicious, Watch Out! Beet Ice Cream is Here!

Mango Coulis Ingredients:
1 cup of chopped mango
2 TBS fresh squezzed organge juice
1/2 teaspoon of tapioca or corn starch
1/4 teaspoon of vegan secret spice aka tumeric (optional, but not really)

place everything into a small pot over low to medium heat and stir, making sure the starch coats everything. stir occasionally and heat for 10-15 minutes. place in the fridge to cool. Note: this makes about a cup, which isn't a lot if you're serving for friends so you might want to double or triple it. 

now to assemble everything, take a scoop of the ice cream aand roll into each parts toasted coconut and crispy rice cereal. and topp witht eh coulis and feel special that you're serving a dish with the word "coulis" in it! and just as a note and to earth balance up the judges, cooking with beets is messy business. I ended up with beet juice over my Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary "Eat Kale, Not Cow" shirt, which is exactly why I need that apron, just saying. Not that I'm trying to influence the vote or anything...



1 comment:

Blake said...

Yum! I would totally love a big scoop of vegan beet ice cream right about now.