Cathy Katin-Grazzini
Cathy's Kitchen Prescription
www.cathyskitchenprescription.com
 
Root Rose Cups
 
Here’s a pretty little canapé that delivers a potent nutritional punch: Little root veggie roses in a creamy avocado mousse, tucked neatly into a fluted, potato-whole grain shell.
 
Perfect party fare, for luncheons or teatime, these petite morsels really deliver on the flavor front.
Plant-based. No oil, refined flour, or salt.
 
Prep time 90 minutes Bake time 25-30 minutes Makes 18 cups (2½ “x 3/4 “)
 
Equipment
 
A mandolin to thinly and uniformly slice the root veggies
A 3” ring mold or 3” diameter glass to cut dough circles
A small (2 ½” x ¾”) fluted tart or brioche mold or to shape the cups
1 pastry brush to glaze cups
Blender
Food processor
 
Ingredients
 
Sweet Pepper Glaze
1 cup mini bell peppers, cored, roasted
¼ cup water
Avocado Mousse
2 cloves roasted garlic, peeled
Pulp from 2 large ripe avocados
Just enough water to facilitate blending
1 teaspoon lemon (or lime) juice
1 teaspoon shiro (white) miso • or to taste
 
Vegetables
An assortment of (1½”- 2” diameter) colorful young, fresh, small round root vegetables like beets, radishes, turnips, thinly sliced.
 
Hint! Some turnips and radish varieties can be fairly bitter. They are wonderfully nutritious but if you don’t favor bitter flavor notes in your veggies, seek out sweeter young winter varieties or choose beets instead.
 
Dough
1½ cups white whole wheat OR buckwheat flour
2 Tablespoons golden flaxseed, freshly ground
2 Tablespoons arrowroot
2/3 cup hot yellow potato pulp, baked or microwaved
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or ½ teaspoon dried
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
Grinds of white pepper
½ teaspoon shiro (white) miso • or to taste
 
Miso is a good salt alternative that helps to lower heart rate and not elevate blood pressure.(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5313421/#:~:text=Miso%2C%20which%20is%20made%20from,%2C%20including%20salt%2Dsensitive%20hypertension).
 
Directions
 
Sweet Pepper Glaze
Destem and core mini peppers. Dry roast on parchment paper in a 375°F/190°C oven for 20 minutes or until peppers have softened, collapsed and begun to toast. Cool. Add ½ of the water and purée until smooth, adding more water if needed to apply thin coats with a brush. Set aside.
 
Avocado Mousse
Peel off loose outer papery skins from the garlic head. Dry roast the head intact in a 375°F/190°C oven for 30 minutes. Cool. Break off and peel two cloves. Toss all mousse ingredients in a blender and whip until very smooth, adding only enough water to blend it dense and creamy purée. Set aside.
 
Vegetables
Using a mandolin, slice all veggies about 1/16” thick. These will become your rose petals.
Soften each vegetable type separately so the slices can roll tightly to take the shape of a rose, by either:
Placing them in a bowl, cover with water, microwave for 1-2 minutes, and steep until very pliant but intact, or
Steeping veggies in a bowl of boiling water for several minutes to achieve the same.
 
Check them as you go so you don’t OVER-steep the slices or they may fall apart. Drain and set aside.
 
Fluted Cups
Bake or microwave the potatoes until they are tender.
Combine dry dough ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the miso and potato pulp, while it is piping hot. The potato must be hot to moisturize the dough and make it soft and pliant.
 
Run for 1-2 minutes or until dough hydrates fully and gathers into a ball. Texture should be quite soft but not wet. Adjust with a bit more flour or hot potato if it fails to gather into a ball because it is either too wet or dry.
 
Composing the Roses
Preheat the oven to 400°F/204°C.
 
On a board, sprinkled with your flour, roll out your dough to a thickness of ¼”. If the dough begins to adhere to the board with pressure, lift, flour board, flip and continue rolling. Cut out circles with the ring mold or glass, center the disk over the mold and press to shape the contours of in the fluted mold. Remove from the tin, set on a cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper, cover with a damp tea towel and, repeat until all your cups are made.
 
Fill each of the cups about ¾ full of the avocado mousse.
 
To shape the root rose, lay 9-12 slices of your root veggie flat on a board one slice over the next, overlapping by about ¼”. Once all the slices are thus arranged, starting at the beginning, tightly rolling them up, taking care to hold all the slices together as you go. Once all rolled up, transfer each rose immediately to the cup. Press them lightly into the mousse. The thick mousse will hold the petals together.
 
Glaze each cup gently with a light coating of the sweet pepper glaze.
 
Bake for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and reapply the glaze. Bake for a final 10-15 minutes or until the crust has begun to brown and the roses take on some color.
 
Remove from the oven. Reglaze one final time.
 
Serve warm on warmed plates.