ROASTED BEET-FETA CHEESE SALAD

Beets are perhaps the only vegetable that taste almost the same whether they're from a can or cooked fresh.  In spite of that fact, I take the long route and always buy beets fresh to avoid the sodium content of canned foods.
They are mostly a spring vegetable and are available now in two places that I know of:
 1. at our local farmer's market (Saturdays 8AM - 2PM) and
 2. at Parker Farms' stand on Trent Road, behind Moore's BBQ (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from   Noon to 5:30, and Saturdays 10AM - 1PM).  

When beets are out of season locally, I buy them at Harris Teeter or Wal-Mart.  If you have never learned to appreciate this deeply hued vegetable, it's not  too late to make an effort.  Considered to be blood builders, detoxifiers and anti-inflammatory, beets are loaded with vitamins A, B1, B2, B6 and C.  They also contain choline, folic acid, iodine, iron, manganese, organic sodium, potassium, fiber and carbohydrates in the form of natural digestible sugars.  

Do you think fresh beets are too expensive?  Think again.  You're actually getting two vegetables in one.  Don't throw those green tops away.  Cook them like spinach, because they taste almost the same.  And, believe it or not, the greens have all the nutrients of the roots magnified.    

Thanks to a friend who has a large vegetable garden, we have been eating beets and beet greens for several weeks and loving it.

Here's my simple recipe for a delicious beet salad.


Roasted Beet-Feta Cheese Salad
Rating:  9 out of 10
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INGREDIENTS:  4 medium beet roots, cut from green tops, scrubbed
2 tsp. + 1 Tbsp. olive oil, divided use
Sea salt and pepper
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
2 tsp. honey
2 Tbsp. Feta cheese, crumbled
2 Tbsp. toasted, broken walnuts


Heat oven to 400F.  Place beets in oven-proof dish and drizzle with 2 tsp. oil.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and toss to combine.  Roast in oven, uncovered, about 40 minutes, or till a fork can be inserted in beet without resistance.  Cool.  Trim tops and bottoms of beets; peel and slice; place in serving dish.  Drizzle with remaining 1 Tbsp. oil, vinegar and honey.  Toss to combine.  Sprinkle cheese and walnuts over top and serve.  Yield:  4 servings

PENNY'S SRIRACHA-AND-WASABI DEVILED EGGS

Eddie Browning writes about the most interesting recipes each Wednesday in our Sun Journal newspaper.  A few weeks ago, he gave us this recipe from his friend Penny.  The hard-boiled eggs are brined in a spicy soy-sake concoction, then simply filled with the yolks that have been mashed and mixed with mayo, Sriracha, wasabi paste and chives.  They are deliciously different.  The brown color of the egg white exterior contrasts with the creamy white interior, and, of course, the egg yolk filling.  These eggs will please the eyes as well as the palate.

Note:  Star anise pods, Sriracha chile sauce and wasabi paste are available at Asian supermarkets.  There are two in New Bern:  one is on Glenburnie Road near the ABC store, and the other is in the Trent Road Shopping Center.

Penny's Sriracha-And-Wasabi Deviled Eggs
Rating:  8.0 out of 10
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INGREDIENTS:  1 dozen large eggs
2 cups low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup sake (or dry Marsala)
10 star anise pods
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup coarsely grated peeled fresh ginger
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. low-fat mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. Sriracha chile sauce
2-1/4 tsp. wasabi paste
1/4 cup snipped chives
pinch of Chinese 5-spice powder (optional, I left it out)

In a large saucepan, cover the eggs with cold water and bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute.  Cover the saucepan, remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine soy sauce with sake, star anise, scallions, sugar and ginger.  Add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil.  Transfer mixture to a heatproof bowl and let cool completely.

Drain water from eggs and shake pan gently to crack the eggshells. Cool eggs slightly under cold running water, then peel them under running water.  Add eggs to cooled soy mixture.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Drain eggs and rinse them lightly to remove any bits of scallion or ginger; pat dry.  Using a slightly moistened thin, sharp knife, cut eggs in half lengthwise.  Gently pry egg yolks into medium bowl and mash with a fork.  Stir mayo, Sriracha, wasabi and 3 Tbsp. snipped chives into mashed yolks.  Transfer mixture to pastry bag fitted with a star or plain tip.  Set halved egg whites on a serving platter and pipe in the filling.  Sprinkle deviled eggs with remaining 1 Tbsp. of chives and the Chinese 5-spice powder (if using) and serve.  Yield:  24 deviled egg halves

FRANCO'S PIZZA

Franco's has real New York-style pizza.  The crust is thin and crispy and the pizza tastes good.  There's a little less flavor than Luigi's pizza because there is no added oregano or basil to the cheese, but it's still good.  With their new location across from the Post Office on Glenburnie Road, this is going to be very convenient for me and other Greenbrier residents.

For all you carb lovers out there, Franco's also has hot or cold subs, salads, strombolies, calzone, Sicilian (thick crust) pizza, Spaghetti and meatballs, other Italian Specialties and desserts and coffee. They'll soon be offering beer and wine in addition to soda and tea.

Franco's is open Monday through Saturday, 11AM - 10PM.  They're located at 1822-2 S. Glenburnie Road, across from the Post Office.  Phone:  252-633-0836

Update April 2012:  We've been told that Mario's (of Havelock) will be taking over this restaurant.

BIG APPLE PIZZA

Being from the Northeast, I'm always on the lookout for a good New York-style pizza.  The crust has to be thin and crispy, the sauce has to have good homemade flavor, and there should be some oregano and/or basil for added flavor.  A pizza that fits this description is hard to find in the Southeast, but we did find it at Luigi's Pizza in Morehead City.

Big Apple Pizza, by its name, implies that it serves New York-style pizza, but I didn't find it to be.  The pizza we ordered from the Twin Rivers Mall location came with a tough, rubbery, partly soggy crust and flavorless yet oversalted sauce.  I called the manager, who told me he has lots of satisfied customers, he's from New York, and he learned to make pizza from -- guess who -- Luigi.  He offered to give me another pizza, made properly.  The problem here is that he is the one who made the pizza in the first place.

I'm not sure what went wrong because the manager insists that his crust is crispy and his sauce is homemade.  He also said he uses the same suppliers that Luigi does.  I thanked him for his offer to make good on the pizza we threw out, but declined.  To be fair, I should go back and give him another try.  (My neighbor from New Jersey says that's her favorite pizza place in New Bern.)

SPINACH AND EGGS

Fresh spinach is available at the New Bern Farmer's Market.  I bought some, and it's super fresh and delicious.  Spinach is a cool-weather crop, so it's available locally in the spring and fall.  We love it in a salad or sauteed simply in olive oil and garlic as a side dish.

Time is short for this wonderful nutrient-laden veggie.  If you want your beta carotene, iron, calcium and folate, better get on over to the Farmer's Market this Saturday.  Buying local produce means you skip the heavy pesticides used on commercially grown veggies.  R Garden, Putnam Family Farms and Scott Organic Farm are three of my favorite vendors at the market.  They also sell strawberries, lettuce, beets, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, scallions, cucumbers and zucchini.  The tomatoes and cukes are greenhouse grown, but the zucchini at Putnam Family Farms is field grown.  Their field-grown tomatoes will be available in three short weeks.  They have an interesting system, where they sow the seeds in the field, then cover the row with "tents" that are removable on warm days.  This enables them to harvest field-grown vegetables well before other farmers.  

When you get your spinach, save some of it to make this great breakfast.  Spinach and eggs are a great start for your day!

Spinach and Eggs

Rating:  9 out of 10

INGREDIENTS:  1 Tbsp. Smart Balance buttery spread (or olive oil or butter)

1/3 cup chopped onion, preferably sweet onion

1/2 tsp. minced or grated garlic (1 small clove)

3 cups chopped fresh spinach

2 pinches sea salt or kosher salt

4 eggs, preferably free range

1/4 cup heavy cream (or half and half or milk)

3 Tbsp. finely grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cup grated Monterey Jack with Jalapeno Pepper cheese

Big pinch grated fresh nutmeg

Big pinch black pepper

In large heavy skillet or cast-iron pan, using medium heat, saute onion and garlic in Smart Balance till soft, about 3 minutes.  Increase heat to medium-high.  Add spinach and salt and stir till spinach wilts, about 3 minutes.  In medium bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, cheeses, nutmeg and pepper.  Pour over veggies in skillet.  Decrease heat to medium.  Stir mixture with spatula or spoon till eggs are softly set, about 2 minutes.  Yield:  2 servings

LUIGI'S PIZZA, MOREHEAD CITY

We moved from New Jersey where pizza is everywhere -- good pizza.  The crust is thin, the sauce is perfectly seasoned and cooked, and the cheese is a mix for best flavor.  We've been complaining about the pizza here for almost 20 years.  Who knew that Luigi was just waiting for us to discover him all that time.
Luigi, aka Val Montesano, was born in Calabria, Italy, and came to Morehead via New York City.

He's been in the Cypress Bay Plaza (anchored by BELK's) for 21 years.  I can't stop thinking of all the pizzas we could have eaten.  Luigi's is the real deal.  The crust is thin and you can have it even thinner if you like.  The sauce is totally homemade and full of flavor.  The cheese is a perfect complement.  If you're like us, you'll want to ask for more sauce and less cheese.  Most people prefer it the other way around.

Everything at Luigi's is super-sized.  If you should order a steak sandwich, be sure to order a small and have a partner to share it with.  We stopped in to Luigi's around 2:30 in the afternoon, in between lunch and dinner and decided to take a pie home to eat for our evening meal.  We asked for mushrooms and pepperoni.  As you can see in the photo below, the pie doesn't quite fit in the box.

The man next to us at the counter told us that he drives 50 miles once a week to get a Luigi's pizza.  It is so-o-o-o-o very good.

We'll be stopping in Luigi's often from now on, and I'm sure we'll be trying more than just pizza.
LUIGI's PIZZA and SUBS, Cypress Bay Plaza, Morehead City, Phone: 252-240-3125.

CHICKEN FLORIO MARSALA

Chicken Marsala has become an easy go-to dinner in our household, ever since I discovered the recipe from Cooking for Engineers  That recipe used sweet Marsala wine.

When our local Harris Teeter had one of their regular case sales for wine, I bought a few bottles of Florio Marsala along with our favorite drinking wines.  Marsala is a fortified wine and, once opened, it will keep in the fridge for about 6 months.  You can also drink it like a port or sherry as an after-dinner drink (that's where you will find Marsala -- near the ports and sherries).  Florio, the original maker of Marsala wine, has two kinds:  dry and sweet.  On the day I was shopping, the dry Marsala bottle had a recipe on a piece of cardboard that hung over the neck like a necklace.  It was entitled "Chicken Florio Marsala."  I decided to give the dry Marsala, and the recipe, a try.

The Cooking for Engineers recipe calls for brining the chicken for 1 hour, and has fewer ingredients.  We liked it a lot, but the sauce cooks down and doesn't leave you with much.  This recipe doesn't cook down quite as much, and there's plenty of the wonderful sauce to enjoy.  You can serve this with mashed potatoes, rice or noodles.  Since I mostly eat low carb, I have it with a salad or low-carb veggie.  I've made the Chicken Florio Marsala three times now, first exactly as written with the dry Marsala, next with brined chicken and some tweaks and last with tweaks and sweet Marsala.  While I enjoyed the sauce made with dry Marsala, I prefer the sweet Marsala.  And the chicken is moister and more tender when it's brined first.

P.S.  Save yourself some time, but maybe not money, by only buying Florio Marsala (about $10-$12).  No one makes Marsala like the Sicilians.

Chicken Florio Marsala
Adapted from Florio
Rating:  9.5 out of 10
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INGREDIENTS:
2 cups cold water
2 Tbsp. kosher salt
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or 1 lb. chicken tenders)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 Tbsp. chopped garlic
4 oz. fresh white or cremini mushrooms, sliced
3/4 cup Florio Marsala, dry or sweet (I prefer sweet)
1/2 cup heavy cream
sea salt and black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

In resealable plastic bag, combine water, salt and chicken.  Refrigerate 1 hour.  Drain.  Rinse chicken well under cold running water.  Pat dry with clean paper towels.  If using whole breasts, cut breasts in half to make thin cutlets, and pound to even out.  For chicken tenders, just pound to even out.

In large, heavy skillet (an iron fry pan would be perfect, and is what I used), heat oil over medium-high heat.  When it's sizzling, add chicken and brown, without moving, for about 3 minutes per side.  Add onion, garlic and mushrooms and saute for one minute.  Pour wine over pan and simmer for one minute.  Add cream, and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Lower heat to medium and simmer 3-5 minutes, or till chicken is done and sauce is bubbling.  Serve chicken with sauce and sprinkle with parsley.  Serves 3-4