As you might remember this column was called Paavo’s tips. Well, I never really liked that, and when one of my friends asked, tongue in cheek, if I had any tips for the racetrack, the name was history. Finding a new name turned interesting, - Paavo’s secrets … all those skeletons in my closet, or from Paavo’s kitchen, or Paavo’s stove. Nothing really worked, until my editor came up with the new name. Thank you Julie!
A couple of months ago during my brief visit to Helsinki, I sat across from my doctor, Martti Setala, who has followed my health since I was 16 years old. He is one of the last wonderful family doctors, who takes care of you through your life. Usually our session is short. He usually says: “You look good and healthy, lets go and have lunch”. But this time he looked at me and told me that my blood pressure was a bit high, as had been the case already a year earlier. It is not my work or my clients, and I am not alone. An estimated 25% of world population has high blood pressure. “It’s my mother’s genes, she had the same thing,” I answered.
Martti brushed that aside and proceeded to tell me about the latest research paper he had read just a couple of days earlier in the February on-line edition of Hypertension Magazine. The study by Barts and London School of Medicine suggests that drinking 1/2 liter or 1/2 quart of red beet juice per day can significantly reduce blood pressure. The reduction starts within an hour in some cases and is more pronounced in 4 hours of drinking the beet juice, and continues for up to 24 hours. The nitrate in beets is the beneficial ingredient, according to this study.
The therapeutic properties of beets have been known since antiquity. More recently in the 1950's a Hungarian therapist, Dr Ferenci, treated cancer patients by feeding them up to 1 kg of grated or juiced red beets. History tells that in some patients the results were miraculous; then again, some patients died of red beet overdose.
So now you find me in my kitchen with my new juicer and a bag of red beets. My white walls look more like a classic Marimekko pattern with red dots. Red beet juice tastes very good, but be warned, it is strong. I find it too strong to digest for breakfast, and nowadays I mix it with apple juice. Totally delicious! I do think that nobody is able to drink the 1/2 liter or 1/2 quart per day, but I am convinced that even smaller amounts are good for you. The juice is packed with minerals and vitamins such as vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, C, and calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc.
Let me now spill the beets about a few very easy recipes.
For a red beet and apple slaw you need:
3 medium beets and 1 green apple, peeled and grated by hand or in a food processor
1 dl or 1/3 cup of mayonnaise
1 dl or 1/3 cup of sour cream
a soupspoon or so of chopped herbs, tarragon, parsley, dill, whatever you grow or have in your kitchen.
Mix all the ingredients with a touch of lime or lemon juice, fresh pepper and salt to taste.
Or try this version: 4 medium beets, peeled and grated, the grated peel of one orange, and the orange sections mixed. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar, and sprinkle with fresh chopped mint, salt and pepper.
Every Scandinavian buffet has the following red beet salad:
7.5 dl or 3 cups of canned or freshly cooked red beets, diced
1 green apple, chopped
½ yellow onion, finely chopped
1 dl or 1/3 cup of mayo
1 dl or 1/3 cup of sour cream
2 – 3 teaspoons of mustard
Mix all ingredients. This is a great side dish for your meat balls. The Finns make a herring salad by adding to this recipe some cooked, diced potatoes and carrots, plus 1 cup of chopped pickled herring. Very beautiful with dark rye bread.
My editor, Julie Lindahl, has a great beet recipe in her book “On My Swedish Island”.
Hah, no, I am not kissing “cheeks” here. I do like the recipe, and it goes like this:
Steamed Beetroot with Hazelnuts and Creamy Dill Sauce
6 medium beets
4 tablespoons of canola or olive oil
2.5 dl or 1 cup crème fraiche (or sour cream),
finely chopped fresh dill
1 dl or 1/3 cup roughly chopped lightly browned hazelnuts
Cut off the leaves of the beets, leaving 1/3 of an inch of stem so that the beets do not bleed while cooking. Cook slowly in lightly salted water for about one hour. Drain and let cool before slipping off the outer skin, then chop into quarters or smaller and arrange in a bowl. Mix olive oil, crème fraiche and chopped dill and pour over the beets, and garnish with the chopped hazelnuts and some fresh pepper. The salad is nice as a starter served in bib lettuce leaves, or as a buffet dish.
You can also prepare the beets in the oven: wrap the beets in aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet in a preheated oven 175 C or 350F for somewhere between 40 minutes to one hour, depending on the size of the beets.
And if you want to get experimental, make your own version or try this idea: place the cooked and quartered beets on arugula salad greens, garnish with ½ cup of crumbled blue cheese or goat cheese, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and vinegar, a pinch of salt and a few turns of fresh black pepper. And you will give us both, Julie and me, a run for our money.
And the beet goes on ... Here is a recipe for a cold beet soup:
8 medium beets
1 yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 1/4 l or 5 cups of vegetable or chicken broth
a touch of lime or lemon juice, or vinegar
2 dl or ¾ cup of sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
Cook or bake the beets (see above), cool, peel and grate. Sauté the onions and carrots in olive oil or butter for a few minutes in deep sauté pan, add grated beets, vegetable or chicken broth. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool, and then puree in food processor.
When processing, keep some of the liquids, and add last to get the thickness you would like in the soup. Add lime or lemon juice, salt and pepper. Chill. Before serving add the sour cream. You can garnish the soup with chopped dill or chives, or chopped cucumber. Or just a small spoonful of sour cream.
If you grow your own beets, you can use the baby beet leaves in your mixed salad. Or sauté the leaves with kale or cabbage and chopped onion for a healthy side dish.
Now you must be totally beet up, sorry, could not resist.
Have a healthy beginning of the summer. Next time we will talk strawberries in all forms.
And did I tell you, dear reader, that my heart just beets for you?
Paavo Turtiainen manages a catering and event planning company, which is based in Manhattan, and serves some of the world’s most famous people, royalty, institutions and companies. Paavo is still today known for his close personal association with film legend Ingrid Bergman and producer Lars Schmidt. Throughout his journeys, Paavo has taken with him food values and flavors that he first learned about growing up in rural Finland.
From the mouthwatering open air markets of France, where Paavo worked in Bergman’s home, the joyful nature inspired food of the Finnish and Swedish summers, to the cosmopolitan food markets of New York, Paavo brings many special and inspiring flavors and ideas to the table with the simplicity and accessibility of his Finnish beginnings always in mind.
The therapeutic properties of beets have been known since antiquity. More recently in the 1950's a Hungarian therapist, Dr Ferenci, treated cancer patients by feeding them up to 1 kg of grated or juiced red beets. History tells that in some patients the results were miraculous; then again, some patients died of red beet overdose.
