We finally got to watch our daughter’s cooking show episode last night!  So exciting.  🙂  She did a fabulous job and we’re really proud of her.  And Luca does a great job with the kids.  What a wonderful way to get more kids cooking.

Here is the episode:

Kids in the Kitchen

I tried to insert from youtube but it wouldn’t do it so another thing for me to figure out!  I love technology but sometimes it doesn’t like me.  Ok, a lot of times.  Ah well.

Here are a few stills from that episode as well:

In honor of her doing this I decided to be inspired by the dishes and make something with beets.  Now, I do not like beets.  Right up there with Brussels sprouts. But when I tasted the beet puree made in this show I liked it!  I find beets lack brightness but this was different.  Because my husband and son really don’t like seafood I decided to do roast chicken with a beet puree.  I did this with my own twist but it went very well with the chicken.  And my husband was happy because he loves beets but it doesn’t find it’s way to the table.  It will now.  🙂

The beets will take a bit to cook so I started them early.  I peeled them and cut them up into chunks.  I used three beets because I knew whatever I didn’t use for the puree would be eaten by my husband.  In a saucepan add the beets and about 2 cups of chicken stock.  Season with salt and pepper then add about 1/3 cup of white balsamic vinegar.  Bring to a simmer and cook until tender.

Meanwhile mince some fresh garlic and slowly cook in olive oil until tender.  I used 2 large cloves.

Once that is done set that aside.  To prep the roast chicken legs I coarsely chopped several garlic cloves.

In a baking dish I added the legs, rosemary and the garlic.  Seasoned with salt and pepper.  I added a bit of water and some white balsamic vinegar.  I baked this at 375F/190C covered until mostly cooked then uncovered to brown the chicken. This keeps it nice and moist with all the flavours.

To do the puree I thought I’d save on dishes and tried to use the blender we already had out.

That failed so I switched over to the food processor.  I wanted to keep this somewhat rustic so I pulsed the beets then added some olive oil, the garlic, and a bit of the liquid from the saucepan that I cooked the beets in.  It’s not the traditional smoothness that you would call a puree but just a smidge coarse.  If you want it smoother add more liquid until you have the consistency you would like.

I served it with roasted potatoes and parsnips with a bit of corn.  The brightness of the beets worked well with the garlic rosemary on the chicken.

It was such a fun process to watch our daughter do this show and to share it with everyone.  And yes, Luca, I will be doing a post on the grilled cheese.  😉