I’m so excited, I’ve wanted to do a post for Bastille Day (July 14th) since starting this blog but have never gotten it together until this year.
It’s sort of ironic considering this is the first year I’ve had a little Sous Chef with serious FOMO and no desire to sleep unless she is in a moving stroller or is being carried by someone who is acting like a moving stroller (I therefore have an 80s suntan and a sore back, neither of which I want to talk about).
Weird that the words beet and beef are similar and they work interchangeably in this recipe, isn’t it? Weirder that they are both filled with iron too, something that most people lack if they have cancer and are going through treatment. Maybe it’s the taste of iron that goes so well with horseradish?
I’ve never been a big meat person but beef carpaccio, when done well, was something I could never resist on a restaurant menu. I think it was because of the extra thin slices of raw beef (totally different texture) and the contrast of the inevitable salty mustard/horseradish/peppery greens topping.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against potatoes. In fact, they are one of my favourite foods of all time. When you leave their skin on (and avoid French fries and potato chips), they are full of potassium and fiber. I even wrote a recipe for a bright and cheery purple potato salad last summer that is totally worth checking out.
The only problem with potatoes (beyond some of the unhealthy recipes that they find themselves in) is sometimes they take the place of veggies that pack more of an anticancer punch. Cauliflower, kale’s pale and flowery but feisty cousin, makes a great replacement for potatoes both flavour-wise and nutritionally. It is full of antioxidants, helps protect cells from DNA damage, has anti-inflammatory, antiviral and antibacterial effects and helps inactivate carcinogens. Seriously. I see this as a worthy swap, something worth trying out in all of your favourite potato recipes.
Besides the simple fact that I’m being cooked for this Christmas–that never gets old -one of my favourite parts of going to my Aunt and Uncle’s for dinner is my Aunt’s veggie dishes. Vibrantly coloured salads, Brussels sprouts cooked in new and interesting ways, and often some underutilized non-potato root veg.
I think there is always room for some new characters at the holiday table. I know that a rogue raisin in the stuffing has been known to ruin the night, but if it is a new, optional dish as opposed to a reinvented old favourite, there is less chance of upsetting the applecart.
