Cannabis roasted beets and Cara Cara oranges with fried garden herbs

By Chef Sebastian Carosi

Thirty-five years into the farm-to-fork movement and every professional chef and home cook alike has a version of roasted beet salad. The candy striped Chioggia beet is named after the coastal town in the Veneto region. My family descends from Northern Italy, and I get a thorough kick in the pants knowing that there is a small town there named Chioggia. Those of you that love heirloom vegetables, and beets in particular, will recognize the name. With its distinctive red and white stripes, Chioggia is the beet no one knows how to pronounce. Say it with me:  kee-oh-jee-uh.

As beets are in my DNA, I have grown to like them in all preparations, but roasting is my all-time favourite, especially when the beets get a little bigger but are still very earthy and sweet. These cannabis-roasted beets are no different—super sweet, herbaceous, earthy and palette pleasing. For this recipe, I use heirloom Bull's Blood beets because they meld beautifully with the piquant cannabis while slow roasting. Bull's Blood beets are an older cultivar known for their natural sweetness, remarkably earthy flavour and high nutritional value. Red beets are betalains-rich offering a wide range of potential health benefits from countering inflammation and protecting the liver to anticancer and antioxidant activity. And let's not forget those gorgeous deep red leaves that are just as delicious and nutritious as the underground root. This old-school variety’s name hints to its mid-nineteenth-century origins when beets were known as blood turnips. 

A salad made with such a rare and storied beet demands more than just your average orange. Loaded with lycopene and complex flavours, the Cara Cara orange was discovered at the Hacienda Caracara in Valencia, Venezuela in 1976. This super sweet, slightly tangy, low acid citrus is the perfect match for the earthy Bull’s Blood beet. Add crispy fried garden herbs, lemonade vinaigrette and wild fennel pollen and the lowly blood turnip is elevated to a crimson triumph. The wild fennel pollen, foraged along the Columbia River, is terpene-rich, loaded with limonene and alpha pinene—all the more reason to add this great salad to your roughage repertoire. It’s also wonderful inspiration to get outside and forage or garden for the ingredients you use in your culinary adventures. 

Cannabis roasted beets and Cara Cara oranges with fried garden herbs 

Prep time: 15 minutes

Roasting time: 1 hour

Yield: 4 individual salads or 1 family style salad

Total THC/CBD: depends on the potency of the products used

Status: salad

From the cannabis pantry: cannabis flower, cannabis-infused grape seed or olive oil, cannabis-infused rice wine vinegar

Equipment 

Small baking dish, chef's knife, cutting board, whisk, 2 small stainless steel mixing bowls, medium stainless steel mixing bowl, small sauté pan, large spoon, rasp, serving plates or platter

Ingredients

4-6 whole heirloom beets (the size of a baseball), scrubbed

1/2 oz quality cannabis flower

1/4 cup cannabis-infused grape seed or olive oil (made in the MB2e)

3 Cara Cara oranges (peeled, cut into segments)

1/4 cup very young wild chickweed or microgreens 

1/4 tsp wild fennel pollen

1 tsp fresh cracked pepper 

2 tsp Jacobsen Salt Co. sea salt flakes 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°. Drizzle beets and cannabis flower with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap in foil packets ensuring they are sealed up nicely. Place the bundles on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for about an hour. Let beets cool, then rub off skins with paper towels. (Dry and keep the purple buds for another application.) Slice the beets into large thin rounds and arrange in a large casserole. Drizzle the slices with a couple tablespoons of the vinaigrette and let marinate for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

Lemonade vinaigrette

3 tbsp cannabis-infused grape seed or olive oil (made in the MB2e)

1 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice

2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice 

1 tbsp cannabis rice wine vinegar (made in the MB2e) 

2 tbsp wildflower honey

pinch salt and pepper

Preparation

In a small stainless steel mixing bowl, combine oil, orange juice, lemon juice, cannabis rice wine vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. Whisk until well combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Horseradish crème

1/4 cup sour cream 

1 tbsp fresh horseradish, grated  

Preparation

In a small stainless steel mixing bowl, combine sour cream and horseradish. Whisk until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Fried garden herbs

1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves 

1 tbsp fresh tiny sage leaves 

1 tbsp fresh parsley leaves 

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

1 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves 

15 thin slices of fresh jalapeño 

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preparation

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. In batches, fry the herbs and jalapeño peppers until crispy. Drain on a paper towel and set aside until ready to use.

To assemble

Arrange the marinated beets on your desired serving plates or platter. Drizzle the remaining vinaigrette over the beets. Arrange the Cara Cara orange segments over the beets. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and cracked pepper. Top with fried herbs and jalapeño rings. Drizzle or dot the beets with horseradish crème. Arrange a few leaves of wild chickweed on the beets. Dust with a pinch of wild fennel pollen. Serve.

To learn more about Chef Sebastian Carosi and his approach to cannabis cookery read our exclusive interview, Eat your damn greens! Chef Sebastain talks wildcrafting, cannabis cookery and his respect for the movement’s deep roots. Chef Sebastian generously shared this recipe with Heads Lifestyle. Now get in the kitchen and whip up something delicious! 

Equipment + product source: MB2e MagicalButter Machine

Photos: Chef Sebastian Carosi and Carla Asquith

More about Chef Sebastian Carosi and his projects here

Follow on Instagram at: @chef_sebatian_carosi