Horseradish

I normally dig my horseradish in the fall, but I dug some up for a friend this weekend so she could plant some for herself. The roots are already big enough to harvest, so I may just dig some all through summer. Horseradish is one of those plants that will get away from you, so you’ll probably always have more than you need. It’s a member of the mustard family, which explains its heat. It is a beautiful plant to have in the garden.

How to Prepare Horseradish
Wash it thoroughly and peel with a potato peeler. Then grate it with a fine grater. I use my micro plane grater. This stuff is hot, so you may want to open a window in your kitchen while you do this. I’ve tried using my food processor to grate horseradish, but I wasn’t thrilled with the results. Some people wear gloves to grate horseradish. Wait 3 to 5 minutes and then add 2 to 3 tablespoons of white vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt for each cup of grated horseradish. Waiting makes the horseradish get hotter.

Here are some delicious horseradish recipes.

Fresh Horseradish Sauce courtesy of Emeril Lagasse
My husband loves this sauce with roast beef, but it’s also good on vegetables, especially baked potatoes.
3/4 cup freshly grated horseradish
3 tablespoons minced shallots
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Salt and white pepper
In a saucepan, combine the horseradish, shallots, garlic, mustard and cream. Season with salt and pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil, whisking gently. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, for about 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

Horseradish & Cream Cheese Dip
I know I said I don’t like fake meat, but I do find the vegetarian bacon bits useful. They add a little salty, smoky crunch to dishes that normally would include fried bacon. Here’s a pretty hot dip.
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
4 tablespoons vegetarian bacon bits
Mix cream cheese, horseradish, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Add the bacon bits; mix well. Refrigerate about 1 hour before serving. Serve with chips or vegetables.

Horsey Mary
Here’s a cocktail to put some hair on your teeth.

1-1/2 tablespoons of prepared horseradish
3/4 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
one 46 oz. Bottle of V-8
Salt & pepper to taste
Celery salt to taste
Tabasco to taste
7 ounces Vodka
Coarse salt for rimming the glass
Celery stick for garnish
Mix all ingredients except the coarse salt and celery stick. Shake or stir well. Salt the rim of the glass. Fill glass with ice and add celery stick to garnish.

Mama Stamberg's Cranberry Relish Recipe
Susan Stamberg used to repeat this recipe on NPR every year at Thanksgiving. It sounds weird, but it’s really good.

2 cups raw cranberries
1 small onion
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons horseradish

Grind together the cranberries and onion, add the remaining ingredients and mix. Makes 1 1/2 pints.

Beet, Red Onion and Horseradish Relish

3 (2-1/2-inch-diameter) beets, trimmed
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1-1/2 cups chopped red onion
1/3 cup prepared white cream-style horseradish

Start preparing this at least a day ahead. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Wrap beets in double thickness of foil. Roast beets on oven rack until tender, about 1 hour 45 minutes. Unwrap beets and cool. Whisk olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper in medium bowl until blended. Mix in red onion and horseradish. Peel beets and cut into 1/3-inch dice. Add to onion mixture. Cover; chill 1 to 4 days.

Horseradish Dill Pickles
Start with already made pickles and fancy them up. This reminds me of an episode of Andy Griffith where Aunt Bea’s pickles were so bad that Andy and Barney secretly threw out her pickles and replaced them with commercially prepared pickles.

1 ½ quart jar of dill pickles
1 jar (6 ounces) horseradish, or more if desired
1 ¼ cups sugar
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup white vinegar

Drain the brine from the pickles. Add the horseradish into the jar of pickles. Bring the sugar, water and vinegar to a boil, then pour into pickle jar. Refrigerate for 48 hours, shaking the jar occasionally.

Cassata Cake

I’ve been so busy in the garden I’ve left most of the cooking to Judi. Here is the cake she made for my book club meeting this month.

Cassata Cake from The Lady and Sons Just Desserts by Paula Deen

2 pounds ricotta cheese
1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup white crème de cacao (odd that this “cassata” cake has no cassata in it!)
¼ cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 ½ dozen ladyfingers, split
1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar.
Maraschino cherries and walnuts or pecans, for decorating the cake.

Beat cheese, sugar, vanilla, and crème in an electric mixer on medium speed for
about ten minutes. Stir in chocolate chips. Line bottom and sides of a
springform pan with ladyfingers. Fill pan with cheese mixture, chill overnight.
When ready to serve, whip cream and granulated sugar until stiff peaks form.
Frost the top of cake and garnish with cherries and nuts.

Judi changed a couple of things here, too. She likes maraschino cherries, and added
some chopped cherries and pecans to the cheese mixture. She also added a teaspoon of crème de cacao to the whipped cream topping.

It was so fabulous! My book club loved it.