Side Dishes

From the Boston Sunday Globe magazine section.

I use golden beets because my family and I prefer to have the beets peeled before cooking. This is much less of a hassle when the beets are yellow as they do not stain. But there is no reason you cannot use red beets or unpeeled beets of any color. Also, the beet greens can be saved and braised. There are many options, but I have included a second recipe below in the event that you don't have.

As I mention in the milchig farro recipe, this is a grain that nutritionists recommend. Like bulgur and the wheat used to make bread flour, farro is a species in the genus Triticum. They're siblings, as it were. The farro recipe I make most often is unabashedly milchig, as it calls for smoked cheese. But sometimes you want to make this to go with a fleishig meal. I have adapted the recipe to be pareve, getting the smoke and umami flavors from other sources. The dishes are not the same, but they can play similar roles on the plate.

I've marked this as great for Rosh Hashanah and Erev Yom Kippur, because as anyone who has been foolish enough to grow their own zucchini knows, by this time of year you're hip deep in zucchini and desperate for ways in which to cook them. I personally dislike sautéd zucchini as the texture is invariably mushy. These spears are very flavorful and you can really knock out a large zucchini excess at a holiday dinner!

You get older, and suddenly find yourself with your very own cardiologist and get told that you need to switch over to less processed food and whole grains. Well, farro fits the bill. It’s actually quite delicious, and can be used as a substitute for white rice in many recipes that call for such. This recipe however was written expressly for farro based on something my mom used to make with farro when I was little. It makes a nice shavous dish. I also use it for when I am having a milchig shabbos.