Hocus Pocus

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, I am always fascinated by the exotic foods that I discover in Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. This week, I am focusing on an ingredient that is not very exotic for most Jews, but the way that I am preparing it is unlike any traditional Jewish recipe. Often times, chefs talk about their “bag of tricks”. This represents an arsenal of ingredients and techniques that chefs use when they want to impress people. Sometimes these tricks are complicated and convoluted, and other times they are incredibly simple. This week, I am revealing one of my favorite simple tricks, purées.

From borscht to chrain, beets are a fundamental ingredient in Asheknazic cuisine. This week’s recipe showcases beets in a new way. I am making a beet and orange purée. The procedure is very straightforward. First, peel the beets and simmer them in a mixture of orange juice and vinegar. When they are very tender, purée the beets in a blender or food processor with olive oil, salt and pepper. File this recipe next to mashed potatoes and kugels, as it goes along with any meal just the same. It is a pareve, healthy, starch substitute that has incredible color and a lively flavor.

Cooking is a craft. In order to develop and mature as a cook you must explore new techniques with common ingredients. I love borscht and chrain as they are, but part of being a chef is finding new ways of presenting the same ingredients. My ability to work with unusual ingredients was put to the test when I competed on the Food Network’s Chopped. I invite you to watch and see what I create on the show this Sunday, August 18th when my Chopped episode airs (titled “Keep on Trucking”