Pas si bêtes que ca – Verrines de betteraves, ricotta aux herbes

beetverrine4web
I went for a little walk downtown today since my car did not run, the internet and the phone were completely dead, so I decided to take a day off rooming around the city. It had been a while I did not get the chance to do so and that was the perfect excuse for it. When technology decides to let you down, just go back to the basics.

You can feel the holiday spirit all over the city, all the Christmas colors are out, what an exciting feeling! Let’s not jump right onto Christmas since Thanksgiving is not here yet, it’s right across the corner and I haven’t yet decided what to serve for dinner. All the beautiful stemware and dinnerware in display makes me want to buy it all. I love a beautiful table for special occasions and was trying to find some special theme for Thursday night dinner.

In France, we serve turkey for Christmas, La dinde de Noël traditionally served with chestnuts. So that’s the way I will prepare my turkey, with chestnuts and with lots of vegetable side orders. I will call it “Thanksmas”.

We also serve many trendy appetizers like this one called verrines. They’re usually served in small glasses and in small quantities. Un Verre = A Glass. Verrines can be exotic, classics, sophisticated, it all depend on the ingredients. I bought beautiful golden beets and wanted to use the ricotta with them. Beet’s sweetness goes wonderfully well with soft cheeses such as goat cheese, ricotta, etc… You can add some sundried tomatoes on top of the ricotta or a crispy pancetta slice. It’s also delicious served with toasted country bread on the side, so you can spread some of the beet/ricotta mixture on top.

Ingredients for 4 verrines

For the beets

  • 4 medium size golden beets, thinly diced
  • 2 tbs sunflower seeds
  • 1 tbs red onion, thinly chopped
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tsp raspberry vinegar
  • salt and pepper

For the ricotta

  • 8 tbs ricotta
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 tsp chives, chopped
  • 1 tsp parsley, chopped
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Preparation

Wash beets and cook them in water or steam them for about 30 minutes or until they’re cooked all the way through. When cooked let them cool and peel them. Cut them is small cubes (1/3 of an inch). In a container, add beats and all other ingredients. Set aside

In a bowl, mix ricotta with all the ingredients.

Using a small glass container, add 2-3 tbs beets (depending on the size of your glass). Place 2-3 tbs ricotta on top. sprinkle with fresh pepper and a little olive oil. Decorate with chives and a cherry tomato cut in half.

Eat with toasted country bread.