Carnival 2013: with Roasted Beet Soup recipe

Just wanted to record the feast prepared for Carnival 2013, a nice quiet dinner for 6:

appetizer:

brochette with sauteed pea greens and garlic; brochette or cracker with Doe Run Barn Owl cheese (very bloomy); carrot squares with Shepherd's Hollow Blue de Ewe cheese. 

-->The sauteed pea greens and garlic came out particularly well. Small amount of oil to toast the two cloves of minced garlic, then what probably amounted to two cups plus of pea greens, just past wilted. One teaspoon full spread on each toasted baguette round. Also prepared the carrots in squares by using very large (but good) storage carrots--maybe a 1 1/2 to 2 in. diameter--and slicing them into 1/4 inch slabs then cutting those to roughly square pieces. Crumbled the blue on top. A great pairing.

soup:

variation on Roasted Beet Soup with Creme Fraiche

Here's the recipe. I altered a recipe from epicurious.com to create it:

Ingredients:

8 med. beets, roasted at 350 for 1.5 hrs.

3 med. leeks, white end only, sliced

1/2 med. red onion, thin sliced

3 T butter

1/4 t each of ground ginger, allspice, and white pepper

2 bay leaves

sprigs of fresh thyme

4 sprigs fresh parsley

3+ cups water

creme fraiche (optional)

salt to taste

Directions.

1. Roast and peel beets. Cut 1/2 of one into small cubes. Reserve for garnish.
2. Saute leeks and onion in pan until soft and starting to brown.
3. Add spices and beets, quartered. Simmer for 10-15 min. Adjust salt. Remove bay and sprigs as much as possible.
4. Puree and add water to make a medium consistency.
5. Let cool to room temperature. 
6. Serve each bowl with handful of beet cubes and garnish with sprig fresh thyme. Also garnish with creme fraiche if desired. (I served without and like the lightness of it as a first course.)

entree

my version of a traditional Galician Cocido: pork, chicken, beef, chorizo, greens, chick peas, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes

It will be based on what I did in 2011 (nice picture of Nathaniel eating it), the description of it in John Barlow's Everything but the Squeal, and my friend Anxo's description of what his mother prepared every Sunday.  This is also traditional Carnival fare in Galicia. 
This dish included:
*1/2 of a smoked chicken, about 5-6 lb. chicken
*about 2 lb. or country pork ribs that I covered in about 3 lb. of salt with a maybe a 1/2 cup of my dry rub mixed in. cured overnight in refrigerator.
*a beef chuck roast of about 2 1/2 lb.
*2 lb. of fresh Chorizo sausage
*about 2 lb. of pork cheeks
Seared all of the meats first, then braised in a lot of liquid for about six hours. Added soaked chick peas after about three hours of cooking. Also cooked separately: 5 Yukon potatoes, 2 very large carrots, 1 small head purple cabbage. Cooked cabbage, then changed water, added others, and added a few cups of the meat stock.

salad

Boston lettuce with radishes and mustard vinaigrette and salted sweet potato chips.

dessert

fried Haloumi cheese with pear and spiced dates
Recipe from Spice by Ana Sortun. Used Tina's homemade plum brandy instead of the recipe ouzo for flambe. 

chocolates by John & Kira with decaf San Francisco blend from Old City Coffee