watercolor by Courtney Khail
photograph by Kimberly Taylor
As you've probably noticed, today's from the studio is a little different than the rest. That's because today is the first day of a new monthly collaboration called "kim and courtney cook" between me and Kim of Kimberly Taylor Images. I met Kim at Alt this year and right away it felt like I'd known her for years. I could go on and on about how awesome she is (because really, she rocks) but this is already going to be a long post, so I'll get to the main things you need to know. One- she is an extremely talented photographer. Like, REALLY REALLY talented. Two- she loves to cook (and looking at her photos, she's pretty talented at that as well.) And Three, as mentioned before, she's super cool.
After getting home from Alt, I started thinking of things I'd like to do this year (resolutions I guess) and on the top of that list I had: paint more for myself and experiment with new recipes and ingredients. You see, I love cooking and before now I never could find a way to bring that love onto the blog. So why not combine those two goals and share the process? And on that note, why not see if one of my super talented friends would like to do this with me? So that's exactly what I did. Luckily for me, Kim was on board!
Here's how it works. Each month we pick an ingredient, make something that uses the ingredient and then create art based on the ingredient or the dish itself. After that, we share what we did with you all! Sounds like fun right? We thought so too.
This month, we chose beets and to be honest, I've never liked beets. I always thought they looked pretty, but I didn't enjoy the flavor. Of course, I refused to tell Kim that when she suggested beets because I wanted to make myself try something new and I knew that she was too nice to make me cook something I didn't like. So I kept my mouth shut and dove in. And guess what? I love beets now. Well, I love roasted beets still working on the fresh ones. Baby steps, right?
And without further adieu, here are the recipes we made. Make sure to head over to Kim's blog and check out her other photographs as well as her take on all of this!
ROOT VEGETABLE AND SAUSAGE RAGOUT WITH CREAMY, CHEESY, GRITS click to print recipe
It started as this recipe from Whole Living, but I rarely follow a recipe verbatim. In reality, I kind of read something I like and then use it as a jumping off point based on what I have in the frig/pantry. This is a good example of that practice. Also, most of my stuff serves 2, because that's how I cook. There was extra here, but I'd double it if you were planning for 4.
Ingredients:
1 large onion
3 carrots
2 parsnips
1 potato (I used purple ones because they are pretty and I had them)
4 Brussels sprouts (halved)
2 beets (fresh ones. Nothing from a can here!)
½ teaspoon of granulated garlic (or finely mince 2-3 cloves of the good fresh stuff)
1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
14 oz can of diced tomatoes (or you can use a pint of cherry tomatoes if you happen to have them)
1 1/4 cup of low sodium stock (vegetable or chicken)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon each of thyme, rosemary, and parsley
½ teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
¼ lb ground sausage
creamy, cheesy, grits
salt and pepper
Directions:
1) Preheat your oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit
2) Wash all the vegetables and then peel the carrots and parsnips (you don’t have to if you washed them well enough)
3) Dice all of the vegetables into large chunks and place in a bowl. Toss with olive oil and garlic and pour vegetables onto a cookie sheet.
4) Roast for 20-30 minutes, turning the sheet or stirring the vegetables halfway through the cooking time.
5) While the vegetables are roasting, cook the sausage until brown. (I’d suggest using a Dutch oven or a deep pan because later everything has to fit in this.)
6) Add the tomatoes and stock to the sausage and cook for 5 minutes on medium. If you’re using fresh tomatoes, mash them up a little to make more of a sauce.
7) Add the bay leaf, thyme, parsley, rosemary, and vinegar and cook for another 5 minutes.
8) Add a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. (You can always add more.)
9) Around this time you should start making your grits*
10) When the vegetables are finished, take them out of the oven (remember to turn off the oven) and pour them into the tomato and sausage mix and cook for another 3ish minutes. (Feel free to cook on low until your grits are done. It won’t hurt it.)
11) Take out the bay leaf.
12) Pour the vegetable and sausage ragout over the grits and serve immediately. Don't be afraid if there is a strong red color when you mix things. That's just beet juice. If that bothers you, roast the beets separately and add them on top of the ragout and grits instead of mixing it all together. I made this on Valentine's Day though, so it was kind of appropriate.
Side note about the grits:
I eat grits because I am from the South. If you aren’t, or if for some odd reason you don’t like grits, this would work with polenta too. To make them super creamy and cheesy and awesome, use half and half instead of water to make them. Add more than the package tells you to- you’ll kind of want to cook it like risotto in the fact that when it start drying out, you’ll add more half and half. In the end you’ll probably almost double the amount of liquid called for in the grit directions. As for the cheese, just mix is a large handful once they are finished cooking and then season with salt and pepper. (Grits ALWAYS need salt. Do not be afraid of adding salt.)
