The recipe for beet rolls and cream, garlic, dill sauce. This is similar to my Baba's original recipe.
But many times i added creamy—Boursin Garlic & Fine Herbs Cheese spread instead of the sour cream, just an option.
This photo doesn't do it justice! I have also added the instructions for using baby potatoes instead of the buns.
Shrove Tuesday, Mardi gras (Fat Tuesday) is the day to use up all your rich decadent food items, see more on why in previous post. But essentially it lies in a deep connection to food—rich, dense, and satisfying dishes to sustain revelers before Ash Wednesday marks the start of the fasting season of Lent. Thus, the aptly named Fat Tuesday is the last day to enjoy all the meaty and fatty delicacies you can muster up. Because, frankly, 40 days is a long time to go without eating our FAVOURITE FOODS.
I must say that I made these a bit too big, they should be smaller. These type of meals take some time to make but the flavor is certainly worth it. Isn't that the truth about most things, great things take time.
Ok the recipe, you can use your favorite bread/bun dough recipe or store bought frozen dough as on person suggested, but this is the one I used: 3 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 package active dry yeast, 1 cup milk, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup butter 1 beaten egg and 3/4 tsp salt. Mix the flour and yeast. In a small saucepan heat the milk, sugar, salt and butter until the butter has melted. Beat the egg. Add the milk mixture and egg to flour/yeast mixture. Mix/knead the dough. let rise for an hour. Cut and clean the beet leaves. Let them dry a bit before you add the dough. I usually pat them dry with a paper towel.
Cindy S's photo above.
Once the dough is ready (option is to add a bit of chopped dill at this point) and then you punch it down, take small sections of it and roll into a little cylinder shape and add to the base of the beet leaf. Roll leaf, stems removed, but not too tight as the dough will rise while baking. This dough recipe made about 24 beet leaf rolls, so if they were made smaller, which I recommend for taste, you should get about 30-35.
Bake for 25 minutes at 350, or until bread dough is slightly golden brown.
** Beet leaf rolls, beetniks, can be frozen once they are baked and reheated for later use.
The dill sauce: 2 cups of whipping cream, 2 Tbs of sour cream, 5 chopped green onion, 3 garlic cloves minced, I like the flavor of the dill so I used about 1 cup of chopped dill and about 1/3 tsp of salt...or to taste.
The salt will bring out all the flavors but add sparingly.
In a saucepan, heat all ingredients until a slight boil. Stir frequently. Turn burner down to simmer or low-medium. Cook it out until a bit thick, approximately 5 minutes. Keep stirring.
Now you can pour over some of the beet rolls in a baking dish and bake for 10 minutes or pan fry/simmer about 10 beet rolls with the sauce for 10 minutes on a low or simmer. I almost always pan fry with the sauce.
The rolls will soak up the cream sauce and become your next favorite meal.
I LOVE LOVE this sauce over baby potatoes too. YUM.
For the baby potatoes, boil them until just tender and drain. Place them in a baking dish, pour the dill sauce over top and bake at 350 for approximately 15-20 minutes.
Or you can bake them in the oven by slicing them in half, adding a bit of olive oil, sea salt and bake at 350 until just tender and crispy on the outside.
Add the sauce as soon as they are out of the oven, toss with cream dill garlic mixture and serve. YUM. YUM.
So that's it. Super easy. So so good. A beautiful way to celebrate all the vegetables available this time of year. These two Ukrainian dishes prevents any waste of the perfect delicious beets, waste not.
Enjoy everyone! (хороше здоров'я і любов) Good health & love to you: khoroshe zdorov'ya i lyubov ~xo