Roasted Beet Risotto with Sage and Chickpeas

(Risotto served here with sauteed chard, leek,
and lentil sprouts, and vegan mint raita)

The only beef I have with rice dishes lately is that I crave something, simply, juicier. I love a bowl of brown rice, and with some tamari and nutritional yeast to moisten the grains, it’s certainly enjoyable. I might describe it as satisfying, healthy, nutty, and earthy. Great. But it’s a far cry from mouthwatering, or fingerlickingly creamy, which is what I really want this week. I’m searching for something more like the vegan, gluten-free equivalent to the texture of fresh-grated parmesan melting over basil lasagne.

Enter risotto, the transvestite, showgirl sister of the simple boiled rice bowl. How often have I heard brown rice dishes defined by non-vegans as “why they would never go vegan”? Enough to know that they are not thinking outside of the box. A brown rice risotto is a truly luxurious meal, and one that everyone can enjoy, vegan, omnivore, and devout carnivore. This one is so tenderly soft, melty, and moist I think even my Swiss roommate would forget to ask if it had cheese, and of course, we know the answer.

The creaminess I was hunting came from an unexpectedly perfect source. To start, I knew I didn’t have wine to use in my risotto, and I found myself dreading the lack of such a crisp, dry flavor. I peeked around the fridge and tried to think of something with that special “bite” a steaming white wine gives. Vinegars just weren’t going to cut it, likewise homemade pickle-brine. And then-Aha! The aged soy kefir whey on the windowsill caught my eye.

When you let a kefir whey age outside of the fridge, the beverage takes on a wine-cooler kind of quality, with an alcoholic edge to its original sour flavor. The clear, zingy drink has something strongly reminiscent of white wine, and even provides a bit of a cheesy taste too. From using water kefir for wine, it was just a short jump to using soymilk kefir for cheese, and voila, a creamy, edgy risotto lacking none of the richness a dairy version promises.

The beetroot gives a beautiful color and lovely sweet flavor to the dish, and celeriac and carrots finish off a wonderful trio of seasonal root veggies. Sage, fresh-picked from the front yard, not only looks great with the purple beet, but adds a slightly smoky undertone to the mix. Finally, chickpeas partner up with rice as our vegan serving of complete protein (grass plus legume) and lend a soft nutty texture in the process. Altogether, a multicultural, healthy take on risotto that practically sighs for you as it touches your taste buds.

Roasted Beet Risotto with Sage and Chickpeas

Ingredients:

• 2 cups short or medium grain brown rice
• About 5 cups of veggie stock or water*
• ½ onion, chopped
• 3 medium carrots, chopped into half-rounds
• ½ celeriac, cubed
• 1 very large or 2 medium beets
• 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 3 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
• 3 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup soymilk kefir**
• ½ cup kefir whey (or dry white wine)
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• salt to taste

Directions:

1. Wash the beets and remove the greens***, being sure not to chop into the beets (leave a little stem). brush them with olive oil, wrap in aluminum foil and bake at 350 F (175 C) for 30 minutes, or until tender when poked with a fork. Let cool. Grate ¾ of the beets, coarsely chop the rest.
2. In a large pot, heat the oil and add the onions, stirring. Add the pepper and a dash of salt, and cook until the onions are transparent.
3. Add the rice, stirring, and cook for a few minutes, until the rice is very lightly browned and shiny.
4. Add the kefir whey or wine and stir for another minute or two, then add the grated beets and ½ cup stock or water, continuing to stir until all liquid is evaporated. Repeat this until the rice is about half done.
5. Add the herbs, carrots, celeriac, and 1 cup of liquid. Cover until the veggies are almost done (check that there is still liquid, stir and add more if necessary, then cover again).
6. Stir in the chickpeas, chopped beets, and milk kefir. Taste and add salt if needed, and more kefir if desired.

Notes:
*I used water and a splash of homemade kimchee brine. **You could probably use soy yogurt too. If you’re not a vegan, obviously some parmesan will do! *** SAVE YOUR GREENS!!! Chop them up and toss them in if you like, or sauté them for a gorgeous side dish to the risotto.

(I'm considering a new name:
"Disappearing Act Risotto." The bowl
never seems to stay full...)

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Five Minute Balsamic Tipped Veggies

I thought it would be impossible to make something this delicious and healthy in less than 10 minutes, but sure enough, it took just 5, even with an electric stove to slow the process. The nice thing about cooking with Swiss regional foods is that it’s incredibly easy to make authentic Italian flavors too, and the oregano, balsamic vinegar, and fennel all lend themselves perfectly to this Swiss-Italian fusion.

Five Minute Balsamic Tipped Veggies

Ingredients (for 1. Multiply by the number of people to be served for a side, or multiply by 2 for each person for a main dish):

• ¼ large head of fennel, sliced into strips.
• 1 yellow (or other) carrot, sliced into rounds
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• a few tbsp water
• a pinch of black pepper
• 2 round slices of lemon

Directions:

1. Heat a skillet over medium flame for just a moment before tossing in the carrots, fennel, vinegar, and some water. Stir to coat and cover quickly.
2. When the liquid has evaporated, continue stirring with a bit more water, and add the pepper, oregano, and garlic.
3. Add the lemon and increase the heat for 1 minute, stirring, to give a browned, roasted edge to the veggies.

Finito!

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Meditations on the “Moral Food” Conundrum

Inspired by a bite of:
Tender Elstar Apple Cake

Today, biting into my adaptation of a classic Swiss apple-polenta dish (straight from Betty Bossi!), I paused to think about the culture that had inspired me to make it. The flavor was light and simple, yet satisfying and oh-so-homey. Still, apparently food for thought.

Let’s be honest; Switzerland is a land of agrarian fanatics. It’s not something to scoff at either. I have nothing but respect for anyone who devotes their life to producing good food-and Swiss farmers seem to have gotten that one to a T, even if they have a bit of a "short man complex" about their specialty. Yes, for some strange reason, Swiss people are usually either embarrassed about their country’s history of stubborn agricultural productivity (these would be, obviously, not the farmers), or suspiciously quick to point out how steadfast and impressive the Swiss agricultural system really is (yes, farmers talking here).

I can’t help but smile at anyone who is embarrassed in front of me about their country’s history. I am an American, which means a certain amount of humility when it comes to claiming my nationality, and I would never judge a country based on how it has been in the past. The point is what I am experiencing here right now. Learning about Swiss cultural history is easier here, now, in this small, mountainous country, filled with patchworks of grain fields, cow pastures, and milk production facilities, than any textbook could ever describe it.

One of the most tell-tale signs that farmers are a revered force in the Swiss population is the fairly close attention that even big supermarkets pay to stocking local food products. Well, part farmer-appreciation and part stolid nationalism, to be fair, but the result is still nice! Even massive corporate shopping centers often list the name of the farmer who grewthe vegetable you’re holding and the address where it was grown. Wow! When I stroll around the farmers markets it is an even more lovely spread of local fresh vegetables, and fruits, and fine, handmade vinegars, pickles, and jams; and there you get to look the grower in the eye, essentially, and see for yourself the life of work that went into your carrots.

Of course, Switzerland is most notoriously a cheese- and chocolate-loving nation, which can’t help me a lot as far as vegan-food-adventures go (yes, I tried anyway, with awful results, peer pressure still being a driving force in ‘adult’ life apparently!). Here is where history is again evident in the present: With about 2000 years of cheese-making under their belts, a lot of the Swiss I meet would be happy to live off bread and cheese for the next 15 years, easy. Well, and chocolate, clearly. That confuses me-that a people with the potential to grow amazing produce, who live in an ideal way for spreading it to everyone through the tight-knit networks of villages, small cities, and interspersed plots of land, already well-adapted to agricultural work, still devote most of their agricultural energies to the less resource-efficient dairy and meat industries.

All I can figure out is that tradition has a strangle-hold on the food industry, including that of consumption. Much of Swiss life is rife with traditionalism like no Californian could have imagined. Food is certainly no exception. When I ask people here for their opinions, there are two main answers. First, the need for protein-rich foods. This is a straight-shot to the tradition issue. In tribal Switzerland, meat was probably what people had learned to ‘cultivate,’ and with it milk and methods for preserving it. Now that banking is a close runner-up for Swiss cultural value, something tells me that most people aren’t actually hand-milking cows every morning, and the choice is about where their Swiss francs are going, not which food they have the ability to produce. The second is a simple taste preference for dairy and meat products. I can’t really argue with what tastes better to one person or another, but I have a feeling that there’s more to good flavors in Switzerland than Lindt, Käse Fondue, and Würst. Otherwise I would’ve been outta here a long time ago!

But the simple fact is that when you eat some of one thing, you end up eating less of another (ok, modern standards of over-eating aside…). If your first thought for breakfast is a hunk of Gruyere and a slice of topf (like the challah of swiss bread), you’ve just passed up the ripe, juicy plums, apples, pears, and elderberries dripping with natural appeal. How about a bowl of nüsslisalat (corn lettuce), grated celeriac, and purple carrots, all native, seasonal veggies (yes, even in January!)?

Let’s think further, to the simple, rustic cuisine that everyone dreams of mom bringing to the table at Christmas; The standards include potatoes, meat, salad, cheese (raclette or fondue), bread, and lots of cookies and chocolate. The great part is, it’s all local. The drawback? Well, I can’t eat most of it, for one! But also, the focus on meat, cheese, milk products, and wheat means less focus on the amazing variety of heirloom vegetables and fruits in Switzerland, or the wide spread of grain crops that can easily be grown here but are replaced with wheat. about corn? It is evidently completely possible to grow it here, because in fact, quite a bit is. There’s just one catch-like most American corn, it is a variety to be used for cattle feed. One of the common imported items I see is whole corn on the cob, while the pig sliced into your sandwich could have easily been fattened on locally-grown corn! Funny how the world works…

On the other side, we can’t forget that just because something is local doesn’t mean that it is native, or easier to be grown. In the short-term, buying local is almost always better because you are cutting down on the costs, environmental and economical, of importing. But in the long-run, we are often just supporting the chosen monoculture of a given region. Wheat, spelt, and rye are NOT the only grains that grow in Switzerland. For whatever reason, cost, quantity, versatility, or demand, a few crops were chosen for Switzerland to produce on large scales, and that’s the way we’re taught to buy. It’s completely ludicrous to think that only a few kinds of plants are Switzerland-friendly. With major geographical differences from region to region, it’s a country supporting many vastly different microclimates in its small, mountainous confines. For example: Um, the Alps?

Changing something like the amount of agricultural biodiversity in a society isn’t something I know how to do. Do you? Then help me out. In the meantime I can try to cut down on both imported and local-monoculture foods, and eat…well, heirlooms! Lucky for me there is an almost guerilla-like movement of heirloom activists in Switzerland, who distribute the seeds for personal use and research the ‘lineage’ of plant species all the way back to texts from monastery’s of the Middle Ages.

Now, here I sit with a piece of Tender Elstar Apple Cake in front of me. The ingredients are the usual hodge-podge of what I had and what I wanted, and the result is a multi-cultural take on a Swiss tradition. Inside are little South American Amaranth grains, Italian polenta, and cashews from…it doesn’t actually say, and that’s eerie. Everything inside is organic, and some things were locally produced. Some came straight from the farm, like the apples and the elderberry blossom syrup. But how much better is it to enjoy this newly hyped gluten-free grain, fair trade and more well-traveled than most Americans my age, than to buy the Kellogs Corn Pops, which are also gluten-free, cheaper, and produced on the same continent? Well, I would still say it’s better, but it’s not as much of a perfect action as I would like to imagine.

It’s so easy to fall into the traps of advertising and wind up wreaking havoc on our supposed ‘environmentalist’ morals. Where does our soymilk come from, dairy-free eaters? If you make your own, where are the beans grown? Rice milk? Almond milk? How far have the ingredients for your perfect curry traveled? How much plastic should really be involved in buying organic peppers? I just have to think that if what we need is a change in the way we shop and eat, what we need is less mindless extremism and more conscientious decision-making. “I shop all organic” is not enough to make me living well in relation to the environment, the economy, and other individuals. Neither is “I shop local.” It is a complicated, messy state our food has sprouted into, and the answers are similarly messy.

Don’t underestimate your actions! Think!

There is no codified method for ‘good’ actions-the answer always lies in the moment, and to face this is the most honest expression of humanity. When you enter the grocery store, whether you choose the farmer’s market, the local organic shop, the Tesco, the Walmart, or the garden, what you have to work with is always the next choice. Organic and imported, local and sprayed; fair trade from South America or grown next door by underpaid immigrants; packaged or bulk; paper or plastic; savored or snacked; spoiled or saved…Think about it. Enjoy the process. This is living. It is our gift and our eternal possibility to do it with as much awareness as possible. Two bites into my Elstar Cake, I’ve got a smile on my face as I think about exactly what it means to eat “Swiss”.

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Tender Elstar Apple Cake

This cake inspired quite a rant about Swiss food culture, which you can find here. It's a magnificent example of how thought-provoking a simple, light taste can be.

Every week at the market in Basel, I visit the apple stall and smile contentedly. "phew, there are still Elstars." I dread the day when for some reason, my tangy, crisp friends are done for the season or the supply is exhausted. The Elstar is absolutely my favorite apple, with the most flavor of any I have ever tasted, a slight sour bite, and a rich sweet aftertaste. Oh yes, they're divine. As this recipe was inspired by a traditional Swiss recipe (with lots of butter and eggs, so we've modified a few things), it seems only fitting to use a local apple.

The cake itself is beautifully gluten-free because of the polenta used instead of flour. With the addition of soy yogurt instead of milk, it is so moist and tender, I couldn't resist eating the firs tpiece before I took a picture. It is an excellent dessert or breakfast choice, and has much less sugar than most cakes, so it won't throw you into a coma 30 minutes after eating it. Most important, it is yummy yummy yummy, and it's nice ot think that you're eating something that people here have eaten for hundreds of years. I can almost imagine I am eating the first apple-polenta cake if I close my eyes and savor a bite with the air blowing in the window straight off the Rhine...

Tender Elstar Apple Cake
(Timeframe: 3-4 days. For a quick recipe, see the “Notes” section)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup corn flour
• 1 1/2 cups polenta
• ½ cup brown rice flour
• 1 tsp guar gum (opt.)
• 2 tbsp fresh flax meal (opt.)
• 2-3 cups water kefir, milk kefir, or yogurt
• ¼ cup sunflower oil
• 6 crisp Elstar apples, or your favorite local variety
• ½ cup cashews, walnuts, or pecans
• 1/3 cup elderberry blossom syrup* (or sweetener to taste)
• ¼ cup raw sugar
• ½ tsp grated nutmeg
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking powder (opt.)
• 1 lemon

Directions: (always have all ingredients at room temperature to assist yeast development)
Starter:

1. Mix corn flour, ½ tsp guar gum, and 1 cup of kefir/yogurt in a clean glass container until it is moist and gooooshy. Cover loosely with a cloth and set in a warm place for 1-3 days, until bubbly and fluffy, stirring at least once daily.

Batter:

1. When the starter is ready, mix together the polenta, rice flour, sugar, and 1-2 cups kefir (at least 1 cup, and the rest can be water), or as much as you need to make a stirrable mix
   
2. Add starter, mix well, and cover in a warm place for at least 12 hours.
3. 2-4 hours before baking, activate your nuts by soaking them in water. Drain water when finished and grind the nuts into coarse pieces.
4. Add 1/3 cup water to the flax meal in a sauce pan, and bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally. Let simmer for a few minutes, remove from heat, and let cool, continuing to stir occasionally.
5. Slice the apples into medium-thin slices, squeezing juice of half a lemon on them and tossing to prevent browning as you go.
6. Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C)
7. Mix brown rice flour, guar gum, and baking powder together, then add to the batter.
8. Stir in the nuts, ¼ cup elderberry blossom syrup (save the rest for garnish), the flax meal mixture, cinnamon, nutmeg, oil, and all but 10 or so slices of apple.
9. Pour batter into an oiled, floured casserole or cake pan, and arrange the leftover apple slices on top.
10. Dust with cinnamon and nutmeg.
11. Bake for 10 minutes and turn the heat down to 325 F (162 C).
12. Bake for 30 minutes, or until firm. Serve with yogurt and drizzle with elderberry blossom syrup mixed with the juice of half a lemon**.

If you find some leftover in a few days, check out Gingerbread Pudding, the cake recycling recipe

Notes:
This is a fermented version of the recipe, which is not necessary, but aids in digestibility of grains and adds a wonderful zing to the flavor. If you would rather make this spur-of-the-moment, cook the polenta in milk or water until done, and treat it as your starter. Begin from step 3 under batter. Leave out the cornflour (it is used in the fermented version as a good sourdough starter flour, but it isn’t necessary to make the cake itself.)

*This is a delicate Swiss specialty which I get from my boyfriend’s mom, and I never saw it in the states or anywhere else. If you can’t find it, use a different sweetener with a light taste, like agave nectar or sugar

**Instead of this mixture, you can do the classic powdered sugar and lemon juice icing and drizzle it on top. Mmmm!

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